LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday got a firsthand look at UPS' global air hub in Louisville, where up to 4 million packages are sorted daily during the year-end holiday rush.
Seeing UPS Worldport in action was like "watching a great orchestra at work," Buttigieg told reporters gathered in front a Boeing 747-8 in a hangar at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport.
"This is part of the beating heart of American supply chains, and it was very important for me to see it for myself," said the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and Democratic presidential hopeful.
In brief remarks to a crowd that included UPS CEO Carol Tome and International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Sean O'Brien, Buttigieg said supply chain problems that threatened to cripple the economy this time last year have largely subsided.
For example, there are no longer big queues of international ships waiting to port in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, Buttigieg said.
"We are often seeing that backlog completely gone," he said.
Buttigieg touted spending authorized in the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Act passed last year to improve airports, railways and shipyards.
He said President Joe Biden's administration is "fighting inflation with everything we've got," which includes improving the flow of goods through the economy.
U.S. consumer prices were 7.7% higher than a year earlier in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer prices have run as a high as 9.1% from a year earlier in June 2022.
Buttigieg also praised Congress' action, which Biden signed last week, to avert a potential rail workers' strike that could have been "a national catastrophe for our economy."
The deal imposed by the federal government provided workers a 24% raise but lacked the paid sick days that some unions had held out for in their negotiations with railroad employers.
"We do not believe that this is where things should end … We will continue to push for paid leave for all workers because it is the right thing to do," Buttigieg said.
