Gov. Abbott: Reroute Cargo Ships From California to Texas

The nation's supply chain shortages could improve if goods came into the United States through Texas ports rather than waiting around off the coast of California, Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday. 

"In just two weeks, those same ships could go through the Panama Canal and go to the Houston Port and Freeport Port in the state of Texas, unload and be back in Asia before they would even be unloading in California," the Republican governor told Fox Business' "Mornings With Maria." 

Further, Texas doesn't have the rules and regulations that exist in California, which leads to an almost 100-day delay in shops being able to unload their goods and get them into the United States, said Abbott. 

Texas' location also makes it key to alleviating the supply chain issues that are driving up prices and emptying shelves nationwide, Abbott said. 

"Because of the central location of the state of Texas, because of the highways, the railways that we have, the goods they're seeking to unload in California could be unloaded in Texas and quickly dispersed to locations across the entire country," the governor continued. 

Meanwhile, he accused the Biden administration of "not using good sense" to reduce the supply chain issues. 

"It's catastrophic," he said. "It's going to cause a spike, an increase in the costs of all these goods and make it far more difficult for Americans to get what they want for Thanksgiving, what they want for the Christmas holidays, and what businesses need to be able to operate."

Meanwhile, inflation is climbing, but that would be alleviated if Texas' ports started accepting the extra cargo ships, said Abbott. 

The governor's call comes after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, also a Republican, opened the ports in his state for cargo ships. 

"That's a good thing for Florida because we're driving economic activity in our state, and we've been doing very well, but it's also good for the country to be able to alleviate these logjams as shortages continue to pile up," said DeSantis in a recent Fox News interview. "Especially as we get into the Christmas season, this drives inflation even higher. I mean, it's a huge problem, and so Florida can step up and help be a partial solution to this national crisis. We want to do it."

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