White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s administration had “saved Christmas” by addressing global supply chain issues.
Psaki noted that the president had met with “industry leaders” to discuss solutions to the bottlenecks existing in the supply chain.
“But, as the New York Times said today, Christmas gifts are arriving on time this year. Good news. We’ve saved Christmas,” she said at the Tuesday press briefing. “And that is because President Biden recognized this challenge early, acted as an honest broker to bring key stakeholders together, and focused on addressing practical problems across the global supply chain.”
WATCH:
.@PressSec Jen Psaki: “As the New York Times said today, Christmas gifts are arriving on time this year. Good news, we’ve saved Christmas, and that’s because President Biden recognized this challenge early, acted as an honest broker to bring key stakeholders together.” pic.twitter.com/6iDEUJuzA1
— The Hill (@thehill) December 22, 2021
The press secretary added that the average time that containers sat on docks had declined by a week, and that the shipment price from Asia to the West Coast had dropped by 25%.
“So, people can go purchase — purchase present even — even at this point if they haven’t done their shopping,” she suggested. (RELATED: Biden Says You Can Safely Celebrate Christmas As Long As You’re Vaccinated)
Responding to a reporter’s question on timely delivery of holiday packages in mid-October, Psaki noted that the Biden administration could not guarantee that, as it was the duty of shipping services.
“We are not the Postal Service, UPS or FedEx. We cannot guarantee,” Psaki said at the time. “What we 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.”
A Deloitte survey showed that around 11% of Americans were planning not to spend anything on Christmas gifts amid ongoing inflation concerns and supply chain disruptions.