The Biden administration has plans to further hinder an already-strained supply chain. A senior administration official told the Associated Press that starting January 22, the administration “will require essential, nonresident travelers crossing U.S. land borders, such as truck drivers, government and emergency response officials, to be fully vaccinated” against COVID-19.
The United States is already experiencing sharply rising prices and increased shortages due to supply-chain problems and inflation caused by COVID lockdowns and Biden’s “stimulus” plans. As this writer reported Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was hit with a “false” tag by PolitiFact for her claim that “no economist out there is projecting that [Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better bill] will have a negative impact on inflation.”
And now, on top of his ill-advised plan to flood the economy with more made-up money, Biden is poised to throw yet another wrench into the supply chain by creating a situation that will almost certainly cause truckers to leave the industry in droves.
As the Associated Press reports:
President Joe Biden will require essential, nonresident travelers crossing U.S. land borders, such as truck drivers, government and emergency response officials, to be fully vaccinated beginning on Jan. 22, the administration planned to announce.
A senior administration official said the requirement, which the White House previewed in October, brings the rules for essential travelers in line with those that took effect earlier this month for leisure travelers, when the U.S. reopened its borders to fully vaccinated individuals.
Essential travelers entering by ferry will also be required to be fully vaccinated by the same date, the official said. The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement.
In truth, it is inaccurate to say “the U.S. reopened its borders to fully vaccinated individuals” since the Biden administration has essentially opened the borders to all comers, legal or otherwise, and ignores vaccination status, masks, medical screening, or anything else for illegals.
And while this new mandate will not have any impact on any disease or crime imported by illegal immigrants, it will come close to crippling the trucking industry. As Business Insider reports:
The decision comes at the same time that the US is facing major supply chain snags — including a shortage of truck drivers. The American Trucking Association warned earlier this month that vaccine mandates for truckers could worsen the supply-chain crisis.
“The US is already facing unprecedented supply chain disruptions and delays due to many factors, including significant labor shortages, production shutdowns, a shortage of raw materials, and pent-up consumer demand,” the ATA said in a letter to the administration in October. “Our data shows that a vaccine mandate may very well further cripple the supply chain throughout the country by forcing up to 13% of drivers to leave the industry entirely,” the group added.
And while the rule appears to only apply to to non-U.S. nationals — allowing American citizens and permanent residents to continue to cross the border regardless of vaccination status — Biden has continually shown that what he says one moment has no connection whatsoever to what he will do in the next moment. But even if this mandate never applies to American truck drivers, it will severely impact the transportation of goods coming to the United States across both the U.S. /Mexico border and the U.S./Canada border. And that will mean even higher prices and even fewer goods.
While this is bad policy, it also something worse.
On the heels of his failure to enforce a federal mandate on all employers with more than 100 employees to require their employees to receive the COVID vaccine, Biden appears to be looking for any place he can find to exert any authority he can imagine into existence to force the COVID vaccine on people who clearly do not want it. Even if it cripples the economy by further straining the supply line and even though — as president-elect — he specifically said he would not mandate it.
Asked by a member of the press on December 4, 2020, “Do you think COVID vaccines should be mandatory?” Biden — struggling with his mask — replied, “No. I don’t think it should be mandatory. I wouldn’t demand it to be mandatory. But I would do everything in my power — just like I don’t think masks have to be made mandatory nationwide.”
And — just to put in the for-what-it’s-worth column — he added that he would “ask people to commit for one hundred days to wear a mask — not because I’m asking it for any reason to punish — this is not a political issue. It’s become one.” He went on to say that if people would “do it for a hundred days, in the middle of what will be still a raging crisis, and the vaccine is able to be distributed, they’re going to see deaths drop off the edge — they’re going to see hundreds of thousands of people not getting sick.”
Of course, nothing he said then was true. First, he did not “ask” people to wear masks for 100 days; he mandated it on federal property. Second, it became a political issue because he and his ilk made it one. Third, he and his administration — personified in Anthony Fauci — have continually and persistently moved the goal posts. If — as Biden predicted — “deaths drop[ped] off the edge” and “hundreds of thousands people [were kept from] getting sick,” then why the continued push for masks and vaccines? If his predictions were wrong, then why the continued push for masks and vaccines?
But at least he is consistent — if only consistently wrong and dishonest.
A casual observer looking at the evidence could be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is deliberately trying to ruin the American economy and drive us — kicking and screaming — into a Great Reset and his Build Back Better version of America.
