Letter to Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, and Hon. Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader - Reps. Kim, Sherrill, Correa and Salazar Lead Bipartisan Call to Create Select Committee on the Supply Chain Crisis

Letter

We write to you today to urge you to expeditiously establish a bipartisan House Select Committee on the Supply Chain Crisis. At a time when global trade has been disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the American people deserve answers as to how our supply chains have broken down, what additional steps Congress can take to fix them, and how we can implement reforms that would prevent a similar crisis from occurring in the future.

For months, industry leaders have been highlighting the need to address critical shortages in our supply chain. One of the biggest issues faced is the lack of available chassis at essential ports such as the San Pedro Bay Port Complex, where container ships continue to face significant delays in wait times because terminals are full of boxes that truckers are unable to pick up due to chassis being unavailable. Limits on when empty containers can be returned are also an important factor in these delays.

The supply chain challenges do not end at our ports; they have continued to devastate multiple logistics industries across our nation. The semiconductor chip shortage has cost multiple industries billions of dollars in revenue, slowing America's economic recovery and raising prices across the board. In addition, rail yards are currently so congested that they have had to restrict shipments from West Coast seaports to Chicago, the American trucking industry faces a record-setting shortage of over 80,000 drivers, and the warehouse industry has been operating above capacity while having another record 490,000 job openings in July 2021, creating delays for Americans along every step of the supply chain as they prepare for yet another holiday season. Small businesses in our districts have raised the significant challenges they face in stocking inventory at reasonable prices, which has forced them to reduce hiring and raise prices. These stories are all too common nationwide.

Clearly, this is a crisis that demands immediate attention beyond the steps that have already been taken. We respectfully request that you establish a Select Committee on the Supply Chain Crisis, with an equal number of Democratic and Republican members of Congress, which would be tasked with the specific duties of:

Investigating the root causes of the supply chain crisis and its effect on each industry sector;
Convening meetings and discussion sessions with relevant industry leaders; and
Drafting and submitting a report to Congress based on the results of their investigation/discussions with recommendations on how to address our supply chain issues now and in the future.

A bipartisan Select Committee would have the opportunity to learn from a variety of stakeholders about the serious breakdowns in our supply chain, gather equal input from both sides of the aisle, and recommend meaningful solutions that will help industries get back to work and put goods back in Americans' hands in a timely manner and at just price points. Furthermore, a Select Committee can serve as the main platform to resolve jurisdictional differences and better coordinate efforts among congressional committees. Rather than a piecemeal approach from Congress, our country needs to implement a comprehensive approach to resolve our supply chain crisis. We urge you to consider putting a resolution on the House Floor to establish this Select Committee as soon as possible.