White House scrambles to resolve supply chain issues amid backlash

On October 13, President Biden announced that the Port of Los Angeles would be increasing its hours of operation to 24/7 to ease supply chain backlogs. Photo by Tom Fisk on Pexels.com

The Biden administration announced in recent weeks a series of new steps aimed at addressing the continuing supply chain crisis in the U.S. amid backlash and concerns over shortages, price hikes and disruptions expected in the upcoming holiday shopping season.

On October 13, President Biden announced that the Ports of Los Angeles and Longbeach —

which are the points of entry for 40% of containers to the U.S. — would be nearly doubling its hours of operation to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to ease supply chain bottlenecks. The White House also said large good carriers, including Walmart, FedEx and UPS, have committed to increasing their capacity and operational hours to help get goods on shelves faster and more reliably. 

“By increasing the number of late-night hours of operation and opening up for less-crowded hours when the goods can move faster, today’s announcement has the potential to be a gamechanger”, Biden said during his October 13 speech. 

These actions come as concerns mount about shortages and price increases in the coming holiday shopping season. Supply chain shortages, which can be credited largely to continuing stress on the global economy still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, are threatening holiday inventory levels. Widespread supply chain warnings have caused retailers including Amazon and Target to offer seasonal promotions earlier than usual to get ahead of the inventory backlogs and to ease consumer worries, according to recent reporting from CNBC.

Biden indicated during a recent CNN Town Hall that he’s considering deploying the National Guard to alleviate pressure on the supply chain. When pressed on whether he’d move to do so amid growing economic concerns, Biden said, "The answer is yes, if we can't move, increase the number of truckers, which we're in a process of doing."

The Biden administration has come under fire for higher prices and empty shelves, two resulting impacts of the supply chain crisis that the administration is aiming to remedy. On Twitter, the hashtag #BareShelvesBiden became a top-trending political topic as critics blamed the President for mismanagement of the economy. Widespread social media backlash against the administration comes as consumers start to see the impacts first-hand of global economic stress.

When asked during a recent press conference if the White House expects to be blamed for what is likely to be a frustrating holiday shopping season, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki indicated that Biden is taking steps to ease the crisis to get consumers the goods they need. 

“I think what’s motivating some of these steps is the president wants to ensure the American people are able to order goods, they’re able to get toys delivered to their home, they’re able to go to the grocery store and be able to afford meat and any goods that they want,” she said.

While administration officials have avoided making guarantees that goods will be available whenever consumers want them, Psaki emphasized that Biden is looking to resolve the backlog and limit delays in all ways possible.  

“We are not the Postal Service or UPS or FedEx. We cannot guarantee,” Psaki said. She added, “What we can do is use every lever at the federal government’s disposal to reduce delays, to ensure that we are addressing bottlenecks in the system, including ports and the need for them to be open longer hours so that goods can arrive.”

In response to concerns that there will be shortages of toys and other in-demand goods in stores for the holiday season, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged consumers to shop early, noting that retailers including Walmart are aiming to "get the inventory to where it needs to be, even in the face of things happening."