White House: We “can’t make a prediction” on when inflation and supply chain bottlenecks will be resolved
October 13, 2021 by yfalconAir CargoOcean CargoTrucking
White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks to the media on Wednesday. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
White House press secretary Jen Psaki addressed supply chain issues and rising inflation Wednesday, saying that the administration cannot “guarantee” when the issues will be resolved claiming that the administration is using “every tool” at their disposal to ease the impact on consumers.
“Look, I can’t make a prediction for you that we’re going to solve every issue tomorrow and next week. We’re not. We’re coming out of an economic crisis caused by a pandemic but what we are doing is working to – using every tool at our disposal to ease the impact on the American people, ease the impact on families as we look to the holidays but certainly beyond that,” Psaki said.
The press secretary pointed to the Biden administration’s announcement earlier Wednesday and its efforts to address bottlenecks at two ports in California.
Psaki would also not guarantee that Americans will receive holiday packages on time.
“We are not the Postal Service or UPS or FedEx. We cannot guarantee. What we can do is use every lever 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 so that goods can arrive and we can continue to press not only workers and unions but also companies to take as many steps as the can to reduce these delays,” she told reporters.
When asked by CNN’s Phil Mattingly what the federal government can do to aid the supply chain bottleneck, Psaki acknowledged there “are some realities about an economy turning back on and moving from a period where there was low demand.”
“Where there was not the production of goods, even of a range of supplies that the American people are looking for- that as it’s turning back on and as demand has increase as it did. That there would be ups and downs and that’s what we’re experiencing right now,” Psaki added.
Asked if Americans should expect inflation to get worse before it gets better, Psaki said she “wouldn’t make a prediction” as there are various issues impacting the supply chain.