SE North Carolina News

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, the bipartisan Supply Chain Caucus led by Congressman David Rouzer (R-NC), Congressman Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Congressman Colin Allred (D-TX), and Congresswoman Angie Craig (D-MN) hosted a roundtable with key industry stakeholders to discuss the current state of the supply chain and ways policymakers can keep our farmers, businesses, families, and economy moving and alleviate interruptions to the supply chain.

"Supply chain disruptions are impacting every American consumer and business through increased delays, disruptions, and costs," said Rep. Rouzer.  "I thank each of our stakeholders for participating in today's roundtable and partnering with the Supply Chain Caucus to identify the wide-range of factors leading to these disruptions and to collaborate on commonsense policy solutions to improve the supply chain delivery system. Each of the ideas shared today will help improve the ability to deliver goods across the country."

“Industry experts at today’s roundtable made it clear there are more improvements needed for our supply chain," said Rep. Johnson. "Members of this Caucus are leading bills to address these roadblocks on land, sea, and sky. I look forward to supporting these proposals and helping them cross the finish line to get tough on China and patch holes in our supply chain infrastructure.”

“Disruptions and increased costs impact real people in every single one of our districts. Strengthening our supply chain shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” said Rep. Allred. “I’m proud to co-chair the bipartisan Supply Chain Caucus and was honored to join my colleagues and industry leaders today to talk about how we can work together to bolster our supply chains and make more things here in America.”

“By strengthening and stabilizing our domestic supply chains, we can lower costs, get products to shelves faster and stop bottlenecks before they happen. We had a productive first meeting of the bipartisan Supply Chain Caucus for the 118th Congress and I’m looking forward to working across the aisle to find solutions that support Minnesota farmers, manufacturers and consumers,” said Rep. Craig.

“Our country’s major supply chain weaknesses didn’t go away when the pandemic wound down. While important progress was made to boost resiliency and safeguard against disruptions, there’s more work to be done to prevent another full-blown supply chain crisis. Consumer Brands welcomes the devoted efforts of the Supply Chain Caucus to ensure Congress doesn’t let much-needed supply chain legislation fall through the cracks as issues are prioritized in this year’s legislative agenda.” – Consumer Brands Vice President of Supply Chain Tom Madrecki

“The reliability and security of the electric grid is at stake if we don’t take action to address the supply chain crisis we’re seeing today. Lead times and prices for transformers, utility poles, bucket trucks, and other critical equipment have increased exponentially since the start of the pandemic, with lead times for trucks, for example, jumping from 12 to 60 months and prices increasing four-to-five fold. I appreciate the opportunity to provide an electric utility perspective and offer Congress long-term solutions as we do our very best to keep the lights on for families and businesses.” – John Maclaga, Assistant Director for Wilson Energy, a municipal electric and natural gas utility in Wilson, N.C.

"The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) was pleased to participate in today’s Supply Chain Caucus Roundtable.  As a critical first- and last-mile connection for freight, short lines are an important part of any solution for providing supply chain resiliency and efficiency.  The nation’s 600 small business short lines are working to maximizing all opportunities available to enhance safety and efficiency as a result of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, so that we may do our part in supporting economic growth – particularly in small town and rural America.  Climate change is shaping how we look at enhancing the supply chain and its resiliency, and we are calling on Congress to develop programs to mitigate the impact of natural disasters, which are occurring more frequently, on freight railroads of all sizes. As Congress considers direction on new safety regulations, we urge consideration of measures that are responsive, relevant and realistic for short lines to implement." – Crystal Gitchell, Assistant Vice President, Legislative and Regulatory Policy, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association

"Strengthening our competitiveness is a leading goal of every manufacturer in America. But we face ongoing workforce shortages coming out of the pandemic and increased material prices and supply chain disruptions remain leading issues according to NAM members. This caucus has an important role to ensure that lessons heeded from that experience put our nation on an upward trajectory by examining and exploring new and old policies alike to find solutions to strengthen our supply chains, the sector and the economy." – Robyn Boerstling, National Association of Manufacturers Vice President, Infrastructure, Innovation & Human Resources Policy

“ATA was pleased to participate in the Supply Chain Caucus Roundtable today.  We appreciate the work of the Caucus and its ongoing efforts to promote policies that will help move freight more efficiently and bring down costs for American consumers.” – Jonathan Eisen, Executive Director, Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference at American Trucking Associations

“I want to thank the Supply Chain Caucus- including Congressman Rouzer, Congressman Johnson, Congresswoman Craig, and Congressman Allred- for hosting this important briefing. The meaningful discussion covered not only lessons learned from the last several years, but the policy solutions that Congress can enact to ensure we have a strong and resilient supply chain. Furthermore, the Shippers Coalition supports the Congressman Johnson and Congressman Costa’s bipartisan SHIP IT Act (HR 471), which encapsulates modest GVW reform, incentives to recruit and retain truck drivers, and regulatory reform to streamline the CDL process." – Sean Joyce, Executive Director, Shippers Coalition

Original source can be found here.