Because his constituents’ livelihoods have been disrupted by the surge in supply chain and shipping issues caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) helped lead 21 of his colleagues in urging the Biden administration to adopt a whole-of-government approach to fix the issues.
“Our economic recovery depends on resolving these supply chain bottlenecks,” wrote Rep. Meijer and the lawmakers in a Dec. 13 letter sent to President Joe Biden, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “We urge the administration to immediately use all options available across agencies to deal with this crisis.”
The lawmakers’ letter focuses on four key areas: the chip shortage, disruptions in the port system, labor shortages in the trucking and warehouse industries, and rising prices of raw materials.
Rep. Meijer and the members first suggested that the administration ramp up domestic chip production and onshore much of the chip supply chain to prevent future problems from occurring, according to their letter.
Secondly, the administration should work with the nation’s ports, warehouse workers, and retail companies to adopt a 24/7 operation at ports nationwide, including on both coasts where backlogs continue to delay shipments and raise costs, wrote the congressmen.
“These operations should function in a manner that supports our workforce and provides proper workplace accommodations,” according to their letter, and “should work to ensure that bottlenecks are not simply shifted down the supply chain onto other industries and workforces, such as the warehouse industry.”
Next, the administration should take steps to ease the labor shortage in the trucking industry and warehouse workforce, including through relevant regulatory actions and worker training programs, wrote Rep. Meijer and his colleagues.
Lastly, the Biden administration should move to increase domestic raw material production at plants nationwide and provide short-term tariff relief to the importers, they wrote.
“We would greatly appreciate input from the administration regarding any plans already in place or being developed to address each of these supply disruptions,” wrote the members, who included U.S. Reps. Young Kim (R-CA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Fred Upton (R-MI), David Valadao (R-CA), and Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ).