Larry Kudlow on the government hack and direct payments to help Americans get out of the economic crisis.
How would you assess the economic impact of the government hack?
KUDLOW: “Nothing immediate. I’m not the expert on that… it’s just, look, I don’t know the whole story, and I don’t know totally who’s responsible. People are saying Russia. I don’t know that. It could be other countries. I just don’t know. But, we have to always, you’ve got to recover this and do the best best we can.
“America’s got the greatest technology in the world, including in this area. So we’ll have to double back and try to cover tracks and see. But no, I don’t see any immediate economic impact.”
Are we going to hear from the president on the government hack?
KUDLOW: “I don’t know, actually. I don’t know.”
Reports overnight that the president wanted more money in direct payments, anywhere from $1,200 to $2,000. Does President Trump want more money in direct payments, is he going to push for that?
KUDLOW: “The president’s going to go with Sen. McConnell, and that will be a Republican position. Our view is pretty much nailed down. We’re waiting for the Democrats to sign off. To tell you the truth, as you look at this thing, first of call… it’s come together nicely, point number one.
“Point number two, still some sticking points, absolutely. Without relying too much on numbers, but you’re looking—and again, give me some running room, elbow room here—you’re looking at a $300 federal unemployment plus up, and you’re looking at a $600 rescue assistance direct mail check, which would come to $2,400 for a typical family of four. We are united on that point. I won’t confirm or deny any of these rumors.
“We are strongly in support of Sen. Toomey’s view with respect to the Treasury emergency funds. As you know, Steve Mnuchin prompted that several weeks ago. The WSJ editorial said it was Mnuchin’s best moment,” he said with a laugh.
“So, we have to get through that. There’s disagreement there. The state and local stuff’s not going to fly. Liability limits are not going to fly. But we’ll give plenty of money. Anything to do with vaccines, distribution, we’ll give plenty of money.”