House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., criticized President Biden for failing to intervene in the dockworkers’ port strike, and expressed concern over its impact on American families already struggling with severe inflation. .
Scalise accused Biden of allowing the attack to potentially “ruin” the US economy During “Fox & Friends” Arguing that consumers will struggle even more with rising costs as the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike drags on.
Former Trump official says port strike would deal another blow to farmers
“The president said we’re going to keep this going and destroy the economy,” Scalise told Lawrence Jones. “We are losing more than $5 billion a day and the costs are going to rise even higher on families who are already struggling under the Biden-Harris inflationary economy. Food on the shelves is going to become even more scarce. “
Although Biden may invoke 1947 Taft-Hartley Act He has insisted on not taking action by interfering in the strike. Under that law, Biden could impose an 80-day “cooling off” period to restart negotiations while workers return to work.
The ILA, which represents 45,000 dockworkers, launched its first strike since 1977 when its six-year contract with the US Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents port employers, expired on Monday night.
Topshot – Dockworkers gather at the Bayport Container Terminal in Seabrook, Texas on October 1, 2024. Officials at 14 ports along the US East and Gulf Coast were making last-minute preparations for a possible labor strike on September 30, which could go ahead. The US economy just before the presidential election – despite last-minute negotiations. (Photo by Mark Felix/AFP) (Photo by Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images)
The 36 ports affected by the strike on the Gulf and East Coasts handle 55% of all U.S. container traffic and a large volume of exports, including nearly half of U.S. pork and nearly three-quarters of U.S. poultry. Nearly half of all imported fruits and vegetables also come through these ports. In pharmaceuticals, nine out of 10 imports and seven out of 10 exports are being disrupted.
Negotiations between the ILA and USMX have so far been at an impasse over the union’s demands regarding wage increases and compensation, as well as safety. Automation at ports.
Scalise argued that Congress would not support a ban on automation despite the ILA’s demands.
“When we’re competing globally, we’re not just competing from one city to another,” he said. “You’ve got ports all over the world that are highly automated, and they still have humans in them, actually running the equipment. These automated equipment aren’t running themselves, but they already make over $200,000 with overtime It’s been a year, in some cases, and they want to shut down the economy to get more.”
Taft-Hartley Act: Why Biden could use this labor to stop port attack
He added, “Who pays for this? And it will lead to even more inflation.” “There are a lot of families making $50,000 a year who are saying please stop raising costs, and Biden and Harris won’t do anything because they want to see those prices go up.”
Meanwhile, the President has faced intense scrutiny for spending several days at the beach while the country faces a strike as well as several other crises – After Hurricane Helen and increasing violence in the Middle East.
“We see Joe Biden on the beach. He comes to the White House whenever he wants,” Jones said. “Kamala Harris is on the campaign trail. Cabinet members are just on the Sunday show as Kamala Harris’ aides. You are leading our government, but who is running the country right now?”
Scalise responded, “That’s a really scary idea.” “When you look at some of the bills we passed, we passed bills to secure the southern border. Joe Biden came out, said he’s against it. Kamala Harris said she’s against it. We have bills to produce our own American energy so we don’t have to give billions of dollars a month to Iran and Russia. President Biden and Kamala Harris oppose it, so… you see a clear divide. Have been.
He added, “I think J.D. Vance said it best in the debate last night.” “Kamala Harris talks about what you do on day one. Kamala Harris had day one 1,400 days ago, and look at the results. The world is on fire. Americans can’t drive to the grocery store “Leave alone food, it’s a matter of table.”
Fox Business’s Eric Revell and Fox News’s EJ Antony contributed to this report.
