Press Releases

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) and House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) wrote the following opinion piece for FoxBusiness.com discussing how the spending and policy decisions of the Biden Administration and their congressional allies are making the supply chain crisis worse – not better:

Inflation just reached a 30-year high. Consumer prices have increased a frightening 6.2% compared to 12 months ago. This is a serious concern for American families as they brace for the impact it will have on their holiday season. 

You would think that this crisis would be top of mind for President Biden and his allies in Congress, but you would be wrong.

Instead of taking action to rein in spending and shore up the supply chain, they are working to ram trillions of dollars in new spending and taxes through Congress that will do nothing to address supply chain problems while adding more inflationary fuel to the fire.

President Biden has been trying to shift blame to anyone but himself for his failing policies that will make these problems worse. But as winter and the holiday season approach, the American people will certainly notice who is at fault. 

The White House recently admitted "there will be things people can’t get" this Christmas thanks to the growing supply chain crisis. Now 64% of retail executives say they’re concerned about receiving inventory in time for the holidays.

On top of store shelves devoid of gifts, families are facing steeper prices on their everyday needs. Driving to visit family for the holidays? Gas is up 61%, while Biden continues to work to shut down domestic energy production. 

Maybe you can stay home for Thanksgiving to cut expenses? You’ll pay 30% more for your turkey, and your Thanksgiving dinner might be the most expensive in history.  

Need to stay warm in the winter months? Home heating costs could jump by more than 50% from last year – and that doesn’t even include a home heating tax that Biden and company would like to see enacted. 

All around, we’re looking at the biggest surge in inflation in 31 years. And costs are still rising.

While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are working to jam this big government socialist package through Congress, the administration’s existing policies provide a grim preview of what enacting more radical policies will bring. 

On Nov. 3, Republicans in the House met with stakeholders from across the supply chain to hear firsthand how this administration’s policies are complicating matters as they deal with managing this crisis. From port and rail operators, to truckers, retailers and beyond, the complicated web of workers and businesses in our supply chain is a fragile one that’s being crippled by sweeping mandates and regulations. 

Extended unemployment benefits fueled worker shortages and planned vaccine mandates threaten to hurt industries already struggling to hire. On top of an 80,000-truck driver shortage, the American Trucking Associations fear that up to 37% of truckers could find work elsewhere if subjected to a vaccine mandate. 

Over-regulating and over-taxing American businesses and families is making our country less competitive. 

Prohibitions on domestic energy production are sending heating and gas bills through the roof, driving up operation costs, and increasing reliance on foreign nations like China, which now sells us shipping containers at about double their price from a year ago, as well as Russia and Saudi Arabia.

It’s no wonder a majority Americans disapprove of President Biden’s handling of the economy.

We can’t afford to stand by while President Biden’s liberal allies in Congress ignore the real concerns of Americans and keep piling onto the debt with their liberal wish list that will make this crisis even worse. 

That’s why we led 160 of our House Republican colleagues in formally asking the president to stop prioritizing his socialist agenda over more pressing issues like the supply chain crisis, and we proactively invited industry leaders to Congress to discuss their top concerns.

To start, the Biden administration needs to halt vaccine mandates, reverse harmful policies that discourage domestic energy production, remove barriers and disincentives to work, and stop allowing state and local regulations in California and elsewhere to needlessly impede the efficient movement of goods. 

Just as the president told the private sector to "step up," we’re telling him to do the same and stop pushing policies, regulations and spending priorities that are making supply chain and inflation problems worse.

Republican Steve Scalise is the current United States House of Representatives Minority Whip. He represents Louisiana's 1st congressional district, serving since 2008. 

Republican Sam Graves represents Missouri's Sixth Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. A small businessman and a sixth-generation family farmer, Graves serves as Ranking Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.