LA Ports Get New Funding; Still No National Guard

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Tariff Update

On Sunday, President Biden announced new funding that will help “cut port congestion by slashing red tape.”

He also told the Pentagon to release materials from the National Defense Stockpile, which will help quicken efforts to lessen shortages, reported CNN.

The administration has not yet, however, called in the National Guard to help with port congestion, although Biden said he was considering doing so over a week ago.  Last week the City Attorney of Los Angeles Mike Feuer renewed the cry for National Guard assistance. He called on other states to send in their members of the Army National Guard to help unclog the ports, claiming the problem impacts more than California, and is, in reality, a national issue. He added, “The president has been asked about engaging the National Guard. It’s time,” reported CBS.

Last week both the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach said they will charge fines for shipping containers that sit at the port for too long, which can prevent ships from berthing.  The fees will affect containers idling for 6 or 9 days (depending if they traveled by rail or truck).  Prior to the pandemic containers typically sat at port for less than 4 days, but now 40 percent are left for nine days or longer.

Reports said 200,000 containers were stuck at the two LA ports last week, but that figure has since been disputed.

Additional reports said only one terminal out of a total of seven at the Port of Long Beach was operating around the clock a few days after Biden directed the LA ports to shift to 24/7 operation.

Meanwhile, truck driver shortages are also impeding the ports as 80,000 more truck drivers are needed, the CEO the American Trucking Associations, told CNN.

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2 Comments

  1. The lack of action from this administration to solve our economic issues is commensurate with the decades of inefficacy that the White House has shown us.
    LET’S GO, BRANDON…

    1. Sorry dude it’s not just Biden’s fault. The folks running our government have put personal wealth gains over the best interests of the American people. Billionaires and huge companies are so deep in the pockets of our Senate and we wonder why we never see any appreciable bills get passed through. The current administration had a huge infrastructure bill that included things like new green initiatives (you know, so our children can live on a planet that isn’t a rock devoid of life, and such) that all got stripped bare by the vultures. Green power takes money from fossil fuels, and they’re so rich that all they have to do is jam a few million into the pockets of a couple centrist democrats and all of a sudden the bill is stropped dead.
      This is not a failing of the Biden administration. It is a fundamental failing of our government entirely to do what is necessary to rescue our country from slipping into a disaster. To rescue our middle class from outrageous rent and medical and prescription costs at the hands of fat cats who crave more.
      I’ll stop there, but blaming one man, or one administration for the failings of years and years is narrow minded and will only lead to the government further getting away with such selfish travesties and continuing to be self serving and completely ignore the folks in this country that they are supposed to work for. The wealth gap between us common folks and the wealthy is now larger than it was during the French Revolution… But alas, Let them eat cake!!

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