When the Grinch stole Christmas it was a relatively simple operation that took a relatively simple solution. Unfortunately, cold, unfeeling regulations and entrenched bureaucracies do not have undersized hearts which could grow three sizes. Protectionist laws and labor shortages do not warm to holiday cheer.

When COVID-19 began, e-commerce sales hit an unprecedented rate causing our already troubled supply chain to be further mired with dire challenges including truck driver shortages, outdated port technology, lack of container storage capacity, port labor difficulties, and scarce freight equipment.

In fact, as situations become more dire with the supply chain crisis, inflation, and shortages across the country, our own regulations do much to delay and disrupt solutions when we need them most.

Americans are feeling the pain of skyrocketing prices, shipping delays, and empty shelves as our laws and bureaucracies fail to respond to shipping backlogs and labor shortages. The system just is not working, and President Biden’s press-release policies have not fixed it.

Like so many problems during his presidency, President Biden is not touching them with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole.

And the holidays are here. This problem needed solutions months ago. But there is still hope. My STOP the GRINCH act can help us fix the supply chain crisis and save Christmas.

This bill focuses on the problems that are actually slowing down our supply chain and helps get products off of ships, onto trucks and trains, and into stores, so that people in Utah and across the nation can get the things they need for everyday life and especially for Christmas.

By suspending a number of federal restrictions on ports, ships, and trucks we can help clear the backlog at our ports, get products onto shelves, and presents under trees.

The bill will help alleviate our truck driver shortage by temporarily lowering the Commercial Drivers License age to eighteen for interstate travel and would waive for one year the hours-of-service requirements for transporting containers to and from ports.

The bill would incentivize more ships to be able to freely move cargo between American ports by waiving the Jones Act. And it would allow federal land to be used to temporarily store cargo containers, which would help break our port logjams.

Finally, my bill would help ease the lack of freight equipment, specifically truck chassis, by allowing excess Department of Defense equipment to be used to help move cargo.

While this bill doesn’t address every challenge with our supply chain, it does provide tangible solutions that will do real good to solve real problems right now.

We can end this nightmare before Christmas. We can stop the Grinch, save our holidays, and secure our economy. My STOP the GRINCH act is the start to a happy holiday and a prosperous new year.