A top economic adviser to President Trump said the White House “would definitely support” another round of aid to shore up the economy as U.S. businesses begin to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Tuesday the odds of a “Phase Four” stimulus package “are very, very high,” even if data on output and jobs continue to surpass expectations. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that U.S. employers added 2.5 million jobs in May and that the unemployment rate, which economists had expected to soar to 19.5 percent, instead fell to 13.3 percent. Hassett said he expects the economy to add another 3.5 million to 4 million jobs in June. Even so, he said, work remains to be done by Congress to ensure that a solid recovery takes root. “There are a lot of things that really are necessary to make sure that once we open up that we actually lift off,” Hassett said. “The odds of a Phase Four deal is something we talked with the president about last week. We even had a small group meeting this morning to talk about it. The odds of a Phase Four deal are very, very high.”
