 President Joe Biden opened the first meeting of his Supply Chain Resilience Council Monday by warning companies against price gouging and saying that his administration was working to lower costs for U.S. families. We know that prices are still too high for too many things, that times are still too tough for too many families, Biden said. But we've made progress. The president has blamed inflation on issues such as supply chains and Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, while Republican lawmakers say the run-up in prices was triggered by the $1.9 trillion in coronavirus relief that Democrat Biden signed into law in 2021. Biden used the council meeting to announce 30 actions to improve access to medicine and needed economic data, as well as other programs tied to the production and shipment of goods. Let me be clear, to any corporation that's not brought their prices back down, even as inflation has come down, even as supply chains have been rebuilt. It's time to stop the price gouging and give the American consumer a break, Biden said. With backlog, bottlenecks, and shipping rates at a 25-year low. We've created 14 million new jobs, including 800,000 manufacturing jobs, and the unemployment rate has stayed below 4 percent, below 4 percent for the longest period, longest stretch in over 50 years. And wages for working families have gone up, while inflation has come down 65 percent. Giving families a little more money in their pockets and a little more breathing room for this holiday season. But we know the prices are still too high for too many things. That times are still too tough for too many families, but we made progress, but we have more work to do. So many of us, and so many of us from the Joy and the Thanksgiving, folks, let me be clear, to any corporation that's not brought their prices back down, even as inflation has come down, even as supply chains have been rebuilt, it's time to stop the price gouging and give the American consumer a break. He's hitting charges at companies sneaking to your bill, and today we're coming together to ask a simple question. What's next? What can we do? What must we do to keep making progress, to keep our supply chains stable and secure in the long term, to keep preserving that breathing room, that little bit of breathing room for American families, for the season to come, no matter what challenge we face. And thanks to the folks that assembled here, around this table, we're making progress. I'm two key fronts. First, we're doubling down on our work at home, starting right here right now with the launch of a new Council on Supply Chain Resilience. I'm charging this group to ensure that our supply chains remain secure, diversified, resilient, and into the future, to boost production of essential medicine.