In-town pool report #1: Hassett at the sticks

Good morning all,

I’m your print pooler today. Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, spoke briefly with reporters at the sticks starting at 9:29 am. I’m sharing a few of his remarks below, with thanks to a TV pooler who shared this clear Otter recording from the mic.

On the impact of the six-week shutdown that ended late last night, Hassett said the Council of Economic Advisors estimates the shutdown cost about $15 billion per week. He said that accounts for about 1-1.5% of GDP and the CEA estimates that 60,000 non-federal workers lost their jobs because of the economic impact of the shutdown.

On affordability: “The first thing that we’ve done stopped the runaway inflation. The second thing we’ve done is we’ve pushed policies that have caused incomes to grow a lot. But we understand that people understand, as people look at their pocketbooks to go to the grocery store, that there’s still work to do.” He said the drop in real purchasing power in recent years is “something that we’re going to fix, and we’re going to fix it right away.”

On the prospect of sending $2,000 “tariff dividend” checks to Americans, he said that’s “something that will require legislation,” and based on how much revenue tariffs have generated, “there would actually be enough room to cover those checks and not go into the rest of the budget, so yeah, there would be enough money to pay for the $2,000 checks.” When asked if the White House is actively discussing such legislation with Congress, he said, “We’re actively studying the matter.”

He said the drop in real purchasing power is “something that we’re going to fix, and we’re going to fix it right away.”

Per wranglers, there’s no update to the president’s public schedule, which I’ll copy below:

EST:

9:00 AM In-Town Pool Call Time

11:15 AM THE PRESIDENT receives his Intelligence Briefing

Oval Office

Closed Press

2:00 PM THE PRESIDENT and FIRST LADY participate in an Executive Order signing

East Room

Pre-Credentialed Media

Orion Donovan Smith

D.C. Reporter, The Spokesman-Review

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