President Biden cannot guarantee that holiday packages will arrive on time as supply chain bottlenecks clog U.S. ports, highways and railways, the White House said Wednesday.
“We are not the Postal Service or UPS or FedEx. We cannot guarantee,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. “What we can do is use every lever level 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.”
Supply chain bottlenecks have snarled the flow of goods across the U.S., with record backups at key ports in California that account for 40% of all shipping containers entering the U.S.
Ms. Psaki also said that the administration was working with unions and companies to reduce delays, adding that the White House’s supply chain task force would continue to take necessary actions.
She made the comments as Mr. Biden unveiled a plan to ease congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California by ramping up overnight and off-hours operations.
The administration also worked with FedEx, UPS, Walmart and HomeDepot to expand their operation hours to keep products flowing out of ports and into stores.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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