WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden delivered remarks Wednesday on his administration’s work to strengthen the nation’s supply chains.
During his speech, the president discussed efforts to lower everyday costs for families and keeping shelves well-stocked this holiday season.
"We're heading into a holiday season in very strong shape," said Biden. "It's not because of luck, we averted a potential crisis by figuring out what needed to get fixed and then we brought people together to do the hard work of fixing it."
Biden said Americans are doing better financially than they were last year.
"Even after accounting for rising prices, a typical American family has more money in their pockets than they did last year or the year before that," said Biden. "In fact, we're the only leading economy in the world where household income and the economy as a whole are strong than they were before the pandemic."
Watch his remarks below:
Biden was originally set to speak on this topic Monday after he hosted a roundtable with leading retailers about holiday shopping and overcoming supply chain challenges.
Roundtable attendees included the CEOs of Best Buy, Samsun, Mattel, CVS Health, Walmart, Kroger, and Etsy.
The White House says the meeting highlighted steps that companies are taking to overcome supply chain bottlenecks and the progress they are seeing at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
"I've also spoken with the CEOs of UPS and FedEx, which are on track to deliver more packages than ever," said Biden. "Now. I can't promise that every person will get every gift they want on time. Only Santa Claus can keep that promise, but there are items every year that sell out that are hard to find. Some of you moms and dads may remember Cabbage Patch Kids back in the '80s or Beanie Babies in the '90s or other toys that have run out at Christmas time and past years when there was no supply chain problem, but we're heading into a holiday season on very strong shape. And it's not because of luck. We averted a potential crisis by figuring out what needed to get fixed. And then we brought people together to do the hard work of fixing it."
The nation’s supply chain challenges have become a point of focus for the White House in recent weeks because they’re leading to higher prices and shortages in some areas ahead of the holiday season.
The administration has largely attributed these issues to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden said last week that he’s initiating a three-month effort called the “Port Action Plan” to invest in U.S. ports and relieve bottlenecks, since much of the nation’s goods come in through a handful of ports.
Part of the plan includes moving from operating some ports at 40 hours a week to operating ports 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Resources are also being provided to other ports to help reduce congestion and undo the damage caused by the pandemic.
