White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow expressed confidence that U.S. supply lines and the workforce would be largely unaffected by the coronavirus outbreak Sunday.
“I’m going to say yes, knowing there may be some exceptions,” Kudlow told CBS’ Margaret Brennan, asked if Americans would be well-positioned to feed themselves amid images of runs on grocery stores.
“Most of our supply lines are working pretty well in the domestic United States … there’s a huge economic challenge here, don’t get me wrong—on the other hand, most of America is still working,” he said, but added “the employment story may become more tenuous in the weeks ahead.”
“This is a story that will be very challenging in the short run but this is not a story of years, this is a story of weeks and months,” Kudlow added, echoing predictions made by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin earlier Sunday and saying “I think by the end of this year we will be back to a strong economy.”
Kudlow predicted that the Senate will take up a raft of measures addressing the virus, whose provisions include paid sick leave for some workers and free virus testing, “pretty rapidly.”
Asked about the broad swaths of the workforce that are not covered by the bill’s paid sick leave guarantee, Kudlow responded, “If larger companies get into trouble we will be looking at the possibility of using the full powers of the federal government … we will be looking to helping any individuals who might get left behind.”
“We have lots of ways and means to make sure nobody falls through the cracks,” Kudlow added.
This article originally appeared on The Hill.
