White House Economic Advisor Hassett says shutdown could end this week

Top White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett on Monday predicted that the government shutdown is “likely to end sometime this week.”

But if that does not happen, the Trump administration may impose “stronger measures” to force Democrats to cooperate, Hassett said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

The comments came deep into the third week of the shutdown, which is dragging on 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 resume funding at current levels. Democrats demand that any stopgap bill include additional spending on health care protections, including an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits that are due to expire at year’s end.

Hassett said on CNBC that he has heard from the Senate that Democrats thought it would be “bad optics” to vote to reopen the government before this weekend’s massive nationwide “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump.

“Now there’s a shot that this week, things will come together, and very quickly,” Hassett said. “The moderate Democrats will move forward and get us an open government, at which point we could negotiate whatever policies they want to negotiate with regular order.”

“I think the Schumer shutdown is likely to end sometime this week,” he said, referring to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., whom Republicans blame for the funding lapse.

But if it doesn’t, “I think that the White House is going to have to look very closely, along with [White House budget chief Russell] Vought, at stronger measures that we could take to bring them to the table,” he said.

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