Kevin Hassett, Donald Trump’s top economic advisor, said Monday that the government shutdown is “likely to end sometime this week.”
The shutdown has stretched into its third week with no deal, but Kevin told CNBC that “there’s a shot that this week, things will come together, and very quickly.”
Speaking on Squawk Box, Kevin said the Trump White House is already preparing backup plans in case the standoff drags on. “If it doesn’t,” he warned, “the White House is going to have to look very closely, along with [budget chief Russell] Vought, at stronger measures that we could take to bring them to the table.”
The deadlock centers on money. Republicans want a short-term bill to keep things running at current levels. Democrats won’t budge unless that bill also includes more funding for healthcare; specifically, an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year. This is the wedge. This is what’s locking up Congress.
Hassett pushes Democrats to end delay
Kevin made it clear the White House sees the delay as politically motivated.He said some Senate Democrats felt it would be “bad optics” to vote before the weekend’s nationwide “No Kings” protests targeting Trump.
“The moderate Democrats will move forward and get us an open government,” Kevin added, “at which point we could negotiate whatever policies they want to negotiate with regular order.”
He put the blame squarely on Chuck Schumer. Calling it “the Schumer shutdown,” Kevin said it’s Democrats who are holding things up. Senate Majority Leader John Thune even offered Democrats a vote to extend the Obamacare subsidies if they agree to reopen the government. No deal. Democrats didn’t take the offer.
Why? According to Kevin, they’re waiting for a better moment to cave.Polls show more Americans are blaming Trump and Republicans for the shutdown, and support for ACA subsidies remains strong.So the Democrats are digging in.
Schumer even said earlier this month, “Every day gets better for us, because we’ve thought about this long in advance and we knew that health care would be the focal point on Sept. 30 and we prepared for it.”
The message from the White House is: the Senate needs to fix this. “Trump has been very active throughout this process,” Kevin said, “but it’s also his position that this is a thing that the Senate needs to work out.”
House speaker delays swearing-in amid shutdown
While the Senate fights over funding, the House isn’t even in session. Speaker Mike Johnson is still refusing to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva until the shutdown ends. She won her race in late September, but Johnson said, “I will administer the oath to her, hopefully on the first day we come back legislative session.”
He shrugged off criticism from Democrats about the delay and denied that it had anything to do with Grijalva’s support for a discharge petition. That petition would force a vote on releasing the Justice Department’s full files on Jeffrey Epstein—an issue Republicans have been dodging.
For now, Grijalva waits. The House is on break, the Senate’s at war, and the shutdown has left parts of the government frozen. But Kevin still insists it’s about to end. “Now there’s a shot,” he said, “that this week, things will come together.”
Kevin mentioned that the White House isn’t bluffing about tougher steps if the logjam doesn’t clear. That’s now the warning being sent to the Democrats: fold, or face more aggressive pressure.
Kevin appeared confident, but made it clear this hinges on the Senate moving. Whether that happens before or after the “No Kings” protests is the only real question left. But either way, the White House isn’t planning to sit around much longer.
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