As the supply chain crisis gets worse by the day, the Biden White House is attempting to downplay a lack of planning and prevention by claiming the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic made the situation "inevitable."
.@PressSec says that economic and supply chain "challenges" were "inevitable" coming out of the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/o2t9tgBo8S
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 13, 2021
In other words, President Joe Biden was unprepared to handle the situation, which experts have been warning about for months, or he did nothing to prevent the supply chain crunch from happening.
Further, Psaki downplayed the federal government's role in the crisis by distancing the administration from delivery delays.
.@PressSec can't guarantee that Christmas presents will arrive on time this year:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 13, 2021
"We are not the postal service, or UPS, or Fed-Ex. We cannot guarantee..." pic.twitter.com/s8IbNua1hx
Currently, more than 250,000 shipping containers are sitting offshore of Los Angeles, New York and other U.S. cities, prompting the Biden administration to release a "fact sheet" Wednesday morning.
"On Tuesday, Los Angeles had nearly half a million 20-foot shipping containers — or about 12 million metric tons of goods — waiting in drift areas and at anchor for spots to open up along the port to dock and unload, according to data pulled from the Marine Exchange of Southern California's master queuing list. The port has 19 mega-container ships waiting to dock, the largest of which is carrying 16,022 20-foot shipping containers," Business Insider reports.
Today I’m announcing that the Port of LA will begin operating around the clock 24/7 to make sure Americans can get the goods they need.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 13, 2021
My Administration is working around the clock to move more goods faster and strengthen the resiliency of our supply chains.
"Today, the Administration is convening business leaders, port leaders, and union leaders to discuss the challenges at ports across the country and actions each partner can take to address the delays and congestion across the transportation supply chain. And the President will meet with the leadership from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) to discuss the actions they are each taking to address these challenges in Southern California," the White House released. "Secretary Buttigieg and Port Envoy Porcari will continue to work with all stakeholders to help more businesses access these expanded hours, and move the rest of the supply chain towards 24/7 operations."
President Biden is expected to give remarks about the situation from the White House Wednesday afternoon.