Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett said Thursday that he expects government employees furloughed during the shutdown will receive paychecks by “early next week” or perhaps sooner.

He noted that essential workers were brought in a few days early to ensure furloughed employees would receive their pay “as soon as possible” during a morning gaggle with reporters outside the West Wing, when asked when furloughed employees would receive back pay.

“I was really pleased to see some of my furloughed employees show up today, and there’s a lot of hugging and smiling,” he said.

“I think that the payments will come probably early next week…. maybe even before, there really has been an aggressive effort to get people to get their checks as soon as possible,” he added.

The bipart

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