A palpable sense of relief and optimism swept through the United States on Monday, October 20, 2025, following a White House statement that the prolonged government shutdown crisis is about to end.
The announcement, which came amidst increasingly volatile markets and mounting public frustration, signals a significant breakthrough in the funding impasse that has gripped Congress for weeks.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett revealed that a deal on the government shutdown crisis is “likely to be struck this week.”
Hassett added that the administration of United States President Donald Trump may impose “stronger measures” if the government shutdown crisis drags on longer.
He suggested Democrats were waiting to vote to reopen the government until after this weekend’s nationwide “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump.
“But if that does not happen, the Trump administration may impose stronger measures to force Democrats to cooperate,” Hassett said on Monday.
Hassett said that he has heard from the Senate that Democrats thought it would be “bad optics” to vote to reopen the government before this weekend’s massive nationwide “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump.
“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.
Hassett also added that Trump “has been very active throughout this process, but it’s also his position that this is a thing that the Senate needs to work out.”
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.
The current lapse in appropriations has led to widespread federal worker furloughs and disruptions to critical services
The government shutdown crisis began after the U.S lawmakers failed to agreed on a funding bill following the expiration of that last budget.
Republicans want to pass a short-term resolution to resume funding at current levels. Democrats demand that any stopgap bill include additional spending on health-care protections, including an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits that are due to expire at year’s end.
Hassett’s remarks suggest that Democrats are looking for a politically opportune moment to fold in the shutdown fight. But with numerous polls showing more voters blame Trump and Republicans for the impasse — and indicating strong support for extending the ACA health insurance subsidies — Democrats mostly haven’t budged.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said last week that he has offered Democratic leaders a vote on extending the Obamacare tax credits in exchange for opening the government.
But top Democrats appear to be rejecting Thune’s entreaty. Instead, some Democrats are calling on Trump to participate in negotiations himself.
