In Town Pool Report #9 More color// Hassett Transcript // Link to Trump gaggle
- From
- Zolan Kanno-Youngs
- Sent
- Monday, November 10, 2025, 5:23 PM
Hi all. I'm told folks were having trouble with those otter links so I typed out some more highlights from the Hassett Gaggle below. FYI one of the t.v. outlets also streamed it.
Also adding one detail from Trump signing: Michael Boulos was present, standing behind some of the Republican members of Congress.
Here's the CSPAN link to the Trump swearing in, in case you don't have:
HASSETT GAGGLE FROM EARLIER TODAY:
Q: Can Americans expect these $2000 rebate checks?
"Well, I think that when we studied the matter in the summer that we thought that deficit reduction might be the best use of those monies, but we've had a big surge in tax revenues," Hassett said. "And because of the surge in tax revenues, I think that's a position [inaudible]."
Q: How much will that rebate cost the administration and how do you compare that to how much total tariff revenue annually will be?
"That's something that you can do an explainer on on your own...."
Q: When POTUS says grocery prices are down, what numbers is he basing that off?
"It's one of those things that very often when people talk about economics, they slip the derivatives, as we say. And so the point is that inflation is way down, it averaged 5% under Joe Biden and it's running at about 2.5% right now. The thing though is that people's purchasing power dropped by more than $3,000 because of inflation over the last four years. It's up by about $1,200 this year. And so purchasing power is improving, but we haven't closed the entire gap."
He was pressed on grocery prices being up, despite the president saying they're down.
"Inflation is down."
Does POTUS support the reversing of firings under the shutdown and guaranteed back pay under the senate deal?
"The President is grateful for the people, the cooler heads that have opened the government. We're grateful that we're not going to have, hopefully, massive flight disruptions during the Thanksgiving break, which would have caused massive economic disruption. And he's looking forward to what the final deal is."
How much money are tariffs bringing in from a revenue standpoint?
Hassett referred to Customs and Border Protection.
Does the president support back pay for all federal workers?
"The President supports the deal because the government opened."
Would that include back pay? Would he guarantee back pay for federal workers?
"I think everybody is going to get back pay. It looks like it's part of the deal."
How much of a hit are airlines taking?
"I haven't seen estimates yet that it's a serious -- a serious hit. As an economist, since we've seen about a 10% reduction in flights, you might assume that their revenues down by about that much, although sometimes it's not as big, because if there's fewer flights, they might have higher ticket prices." He said he would follow up with a report.
50 year Mortgage proposal?
"Again, the issue is that under President Biden, mortgage rates went up by about four percentage points, and that about doubled the typical monthly mortgage payment, and because of that, we've seen like a real sharp reduction in first time homebuyers, especially, and also a reduction in people's willingness to move. And it's something that we take very seriously as a policy challenge. And extending the length of mortgages could reduce monthly payments by hundreds of dollars."
Is that an imminent change or do you need Congress?
Hassett says it requires legislation.
--
Zolan Kanno-Youngs
The New York Times
Cell/WhatsApp/Signal: XXX-XXX-XXXX
@KannoYoungs