The government shutdown will probably end this week because moderate Democrats will no longer support it, top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday.
Hassett explained that with the shutdown in its third week, he heard from the Senate that Democrats thought it would be “bad optics” to vote to reopen the government before this past weekend’s nationwide “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump.
Now that those demonstrations are over, Hassett, who is director of the National Economic Council, said, “There’s a shot that this week things will come together, and very quickly. 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.”
Hassett warned that if the shutdown doesn’t end, the Trump administration may impose “stronger measures” to force Democrats to cooperate.
The shutdown has come 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, while Democrats demand that any stopgap bill includes additional spending on health care protection — including an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits that are due to expire at the end of the year.
The Hill pointed out that the White House has already fired thousands of government workers during the shutdown and moved to cancel or freeze billions of dollars in funding for major transportation and renewable energy projects in states led by Democrats.
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