President Biden on Thursday said that he would consider having the National Guard help deal with the current supply chain issues. 

“Yes, absolutely. Positively. I would do that,” the president said at a CNN town hall Thursday evening when asked if he would consider bringing in the National Guard to help. 

The White House last week announced that the Port of Los Angeles, as well as FedEx, UPS and Walmart, will rev up operations to 24 hours a day, seven days a week to tackle the supply chain disruptions.

“I had a timetable for, first of all, I want to get the ports up and running,” Biden said on Thursday, adding that he got commitments from Walmart and others.

The American Trucking Associations said this week the trucking industry is short 80,000 drivers, which is a record high. 

CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Biden on Thursday if he would consider having the people serving in the National Guard drive trucks.  

“The answer is yes, if we can’t move to increase the number of truckers, which we’re in the process of doing,” the president said. 

The White House this week also addressed the shortage of truck drivers, noting that California Gov. Newsom (D) signed an executive order to tackle the shortage by increasing cargo space and identifying the best routes for trucks. 

“Wanted to note today Governor Gavin Newsom’s announcement, given a lot of interest in supply chains and what we’re doing, signing an executive order to help alleviate congestion at ports in California by tackling the shortage of truck drivers and container shortages,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday.

“Just for context, the two major ports in California, in Los Angeles and Long Beach, move about 40 percent of all U.S. imports and 25 percent of exports for the entire country,” she added.