Biden Raises Eyebrows with Wild Plan to Fix Supply Chain: Truckers Can Drive at Night
As concerns about the global supply chain loom large, people have turned to President Joe Biden for potential solutions in the United States.
However, one of Biden’s proposed solutions to resolve delays is something that already takes place: truck drivers working overnight.
“That means an increase in the hours for workers to be moving cargo off ships and onto trucks and railcars to get to their destination. And more than that, the night hours are critical for increasing the movement of goods because highways are less crowded in the evening, at night,” Biden said in a news conference Wednesday.
Here’s the video of President Biden explaining why truckers can make more progress by being allowed to drive overnight and off-peak hours of AM and PM rush hours because — wait for it — the roads aren’t as crowded.
And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, will help fix the supply chain pic.twitter.com/e35xse5AB7
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 13, 2021
Todd Spencer, the president and CEO of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, released a statement about Biden’s remarks, according to American Trucker.
“Truckers have been working tirelessly to keep the country safe and productive throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. They have already been operating around the clock but are often restricted by factors beyond their control such as excessive detention time and the lack of readily-available, safe parking for their trucks,” Spencer said.
Spencer then slammed the president for making the solution sound easier than it actually is.
“These problems must finally be addressed if the administration hopes to implement any significant supply chain solutions. Most of what we are seeing is not a surprise to our members who have been plagued with dysfunction in the supply chain for decades, and it’s not realistic to expect the supply chain will suddenly operate efficiently on a 24/7 schedule when drivers aren’t being fully paid for their time.”
Earlier in his remarks, Biden also mentioned that the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, which are responsible for roughly 40 percent of shipping containers in the United States, are currently operating 24/7 — which is not necessarily true.
“After weeks of negotiations and working with my team and with the major union retailers and freight movers, the Port of Los Angeles announced today that it’s going to begin operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Biden said.
The Long Beach Post News reported that no terminal at the Port of Long Beach is currently operating around the clock.
“It’s a bit of a process, it’s not an overnight thing,” Port of Long Beach spokesman Lee Peterson told the outlet in a phone call about the transition.
Biden pulled a classic politician move and made the solutions sound much better than they actually are, and the delays before the holiday season will likely worsen.
I was featured on Fox & Friends highlighting the national security implications of our supply chain crisis. Instead of being reliant on adversaries like China for critical goods, the Biden Administration needs to take proactive steps to strengthen American manufacturing. pic.twitter.com/UuS0wQFi9I
— Rep. John Katko (@RepJohnKatko) October 14, 2021
As these shortages boost inflation, Biden is scrambling to find any solution possible in order to benefit him politically, The New York Times suggested.
While asking companies such as Walmart, UPS and FedEx to increase their hours in order to mitigate delays is not a bad idea, it may be too little too late in order to get a grip on the crisis.
It is tough to pin the problem entirely on Biden, as the global supply chain is extremely complex, but American voters may place the blame on the president if they are unable to get the goods they need in the coming months.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
