Supply chains dominate Secretary Pete’s schedule

From Transport Topics. Congress is back at it this week to keep negotiating pieces of infrastructure legislation that continue to take up the oxygen on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the country’s top transportation officer, is making the media rounds to update the nation about the crises across the supply chains. On NBC’s “Meet…

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From Transport Topics.

Congress is back at it this week to keep negotiating pieces of infrastructure legislation that continue to take up the oxygen on Capitol Hill.

Meanwhile, Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the country’s top transportation officer, is making the media rounds to update the nation about the crises across the supply chains.

On NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Oct. 17, he said, “We’re doing everything we can for the short term and the long term. And there are some ‘x’ factors out there on everything from, you know, pandemic-related closures of factories and ports in Asia, to things that are going on through the chain on the U.S. side.

“Now, of course, the other thing we’ve got to talk about is that this isn’t just a matter of supply. This is a matter of supply and demand. Every item you see, every container on every ship that is waiting at anchor in the ports of [Los Angeles] and Long Beach, or anywhere else, is there because an American company or consumer purchased it,” the secretary of transportation told Chuck Todd.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Buttigieg shared a similar sentiment: “Our role is to be an honest broker, bring together all of the different players there, secure commitments and get solutions that are going to make it easier.”

Prior to the Sunday shows, he had appeared on NPR and other outlets to reassure audiences about the administration’s aims at resolving the crises.

A key proposal the Biden White House announced recently was the public and private commitment meant to facilitate the flow of freight via 24/7 operations at the critical West Coast ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. As President Joe Biden explained last week, “After weeks of negotiation and working with my team and with the major union and retailers and freight movers … the Port of Los Angeles announced today that it’s going to … begin operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

See the complete article online at Transport Topics.

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