‘In Other Words, Everything’s Going to Stay Expensive’ Jim Jordan Translates Pete Buttigieg’s Supply Chain Prediction

In appearance yesterday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that America’s supply chain crisis “will continue into next year.”

As we reported yesterday, Buttigieg made the rounds of the Sunday news shows and was criticized by Arizona FOP State Senator Wendy Rogers for taking “paternity leave” in a tweet.

U.S. House Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH) took notice of Buttigieg’s remarks on CNN and critically translated his words in a tweet of his own.

Jordan explained, “The Biden Administration: Supply chain issues will ‘continue into next year.’ In other words, everything’s going to stay expensive.”

The Biden Administration: Supply chain issues will “continue into next year.”

In other words, everything’s going to stay expensive.

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) October 18, 2021

Buttigieg told host Jake Tapper, “Certainly a lot of the challenges that we’ve been experiencing this year will continue into next year, but there are both short term and long term steps that we can take to do something about it.”

“Look, part of what is happening isn’t just the supply side, it’s the demand side. Demand is off the charts. Retail sales are through the roof. And if you think about those images of ships, for example, waiting at anchor on the West Coast – every one of those ships is full of record amounts of goods that Americans are buying because demand is up because income is up because the president has successfully guided this economy out of the teeth of a terrifying recession,” Buttigieg insisted.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says supply chain disruptions will "continue into next year."

"… demand is up, because income is up, because the president has successfully guided this economy out of the teeth of a terrifying recession." pic.twitter.com/uuFPhZoG8z

— The Recount (@therecount) October 17, 2021

From Fox Business:

“Our supply chains can’t keep up,” he continued. “And of course, our supply chains, that’s a complicated system that is mostly in private hands, and rightly so. Our role is to be an honest broker, bring together all of the different the players there, secure commitments and get solutions that are going to make it easier.”

Buttigieg said the supply chain issues demonstrated a need for House Democrats to pass the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which allocates $17 billion to U.S. ports and remains stalled due to party infighting over their $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill.

“This is one more example of why we need to pass the infrastructure bill,” Buttigieg said. “There are $17 billion in the president’s infrastructure plan for ports alone. And we need to deal with the long-term issues that have made us vulnerable to these kinds of bottlenecks when there are demand fluctuations, shocks and disruptions like the ones that have been caused by the pandemic.”

But pressed by Tapper on whether he was “frustrated” by progressives holding up the infrastructure bill in order to get their bigger bill passed, Buttigieg stressed the need for both bills.

“The reality is that America needs both of those pieces of legislation,” he said. “If you care about inflation, you ought to care about not just the supply chain issues, not just the infrastructure things I work on, but also the provisions in Build Back Better like paid family leave, like making it easier to afford child care, like community college, that are going to give us a stronger labor force and help us work on that major constraint on economic growth.”

The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor also dodged a question by Tapper on whether it would be “wise” for Americans to get their Christmas shopping done early this year, as the disruptions across the U.S. have left shelves empty ahead of the the crucial holiday shopping period.

“Obviously, every family makes its own preparations for Christmas or the other holidays,” Buttigieg said.