Progressive strategist Navin Nayak said on Friday that the remarks by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross about how federal workers could get loans during the shutdown and avoid having to visit food banks could come back to haunt President Trump.
“I think this is a real vulnerability for the president as you think about his re-elect,” Nayak, senior vice president at the Center for American Progress, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on “Rising.”
“He promised to remember the forgotten man, to hold Wall Street accountable, this just sort of reinforces who he’s actually surrounded himself with, the kind of policies he’s pushed for,” he continued.
Ross on Thursday questioned in an interview with CNBC why thousands of federal workers, who’ve already missed one paycheck, are relying on food banks during the partial government shutdown.
“So the 30 days of pay that some people will be out, there’s no real reason why they shouldn’t be able to get a loan against it, and we’ve seen a number of ads of financial institutions doing that,” Ross said.
Nayak noted that the credit union run by Ross’s own department is offering a nine percent interest rate on a short-term loan.
“I think one of the funniest parts of this is that Wilbur Ross is saying you can get a low-interest loan, his own credit union, the one that is at the Department of Commerce, the loan they give you is nine percent right now if you want to get a short-term loan,” he said. “They’re just so out of touch on every level, and I actually think this is not a small vulnerability for the president in the bigger picture.”
Other Democrats were quick to pounce on the Commerce secretary’s comments, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
“Is this the ‘Let them eat cake,’ kind of attitude?” Pelosi said.
— Julia Manchester
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