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.
“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.
