The White House’s top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, predicted Monday that the government shutdown “will likely end this week.”
But if that doesn’t happen, the Trump administration could impose “stronger measures” to force Democrats to cooperate, Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
The comments came during the third week of the shutdown, which continues with no clear end in sight amid a partisan fight in the Senate over federal funding priorities.
Republicans want to pass a short-term resolution to restore funding to current levels. Democrats are demanding that any stopgap bill include additional spending for health care protections, including an extension of the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced tax credits that are set to expire at the end of the year.
Hassett said on CNBC that he heard from the Senate that Democrats thought it would be “bad optics” to vote to reopen the government ahead of this weekend’s massive national “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump.
“There’s a chance that this week things will fall into place, and very quickly,” Hassett said. “Moderate Democrats will go ahead and get us open government, at which point we can negotiate whatever policies they want to negotiate in regular order.”
“I think the Schumer shutdown will probably end this week,” he said, referring to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who Republicans blame for the funding shortfall.
But if that’s not the case, “I think the White House will have to look very closely, with (White House budget chief Russell) Vought, at what stronger steps we could take to bring them to the table,” he said.
Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment on Hassett’s remarks.
Hassett’s remarks suggest that Democrats are looking for a politically opportune moment to step away from the lockdown fight. But with numerous polls showing more voters blaming Trump and Republicans for gridlock — and indicating strong support for expanding the ACA’s health insurance subsidies — Democrats have mostly not budged.
“Every day gets better for us,” Schumer told Punchbowl News earlier this month, “because we thought about it well in advance and we knew health care was going to be the focus on September 30 and we prepared for it.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said last week that he offered Democratic leaders a vote on extending Obamacare tax credits in exchange for opening up the government.
But top Democrats appear to reject Thune’s request. Instead, some Democrats are calling on Trump to participate in the negotiations himself.
Hassett said Monday that Trump “has been very active throughout this process, but he also believes this is an issue that the Senate needs to work on.”
