Kevin Hassett
Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett drew heavy criticism after claiming purchasing power has risen, despite families struggling with rising costs and stagnant wages. Screenshot from YouTube

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, appeared on Fox Business on 9 April to defend the elimination of 300,000 federal roles, describing the cuts as a step toward £743 billion ($1 trillion) in savings over a decade. The claim was promptly challenged by independent budget analysts and condemned by the union representing federal workers.

Hassett declared these positions permanently abolished and told viewers on 'Mornings with Maria' that shedding the 300,000 workers would lower spending by an 'unthinkable amount of money.' Labour leaders and economists have challenged the arithmetic, warning that the cuts will dismantle public services that millions of Americans depend on.

Hassett's Deficit Claims Face Independent Challenge

The director also said the White House reduced the national deficit last year by £445.8 billion ($600 billion). He attributed this to unexpected economic growth, strong tariff revenues, and supply-side benefits from the president's corporate tax reductions.

Critics argued that the tax cuts disproportionately benefited the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the social safety net. Dean Baker, a progressive economist who has previously collaborated with Hassett, wrote on social media that the adviser was dramatically overstating the deficit reduction. 'In the real world, the deficit fell... less than one-tenth of what Kevin claims,' Baker wrote.

What the CBO Figures Show

Independent government statistics present a different picture from the White House account. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the federal deficit stood at roughly £1.34 trillion ($1.8 trillion) for the 2025 fiscal year.

That figure is £30.4 billion ($41 billion) lower than the previous fiscal year and sits £41.6 billion ($56 billion) beneath the £1.41 trillion ($1.9 trillion) baseline projection previously released by the watchdog. Baker noted that the genuine drop in the deficit was less than a tenth of what Hassett claimed. Despite the gap between those figures, Trump has continued to champion the cuts to federal roles, which he has described as 'boring federal jobs', as a defining achievement.

The Departments Affected

The workforce reductions targeted departments that serve some of the most vulnerable Americans. The Department of Veterans Affairs saw over 12,700 employees dismissed, whilst the Department of Health and Human Services lost 14,400 staff members. The Social Security Administration shrank by more than 6,600 personnel, and the Environmental Protection Agency lost upwards of 4,000 workers.

Jacqueline Simon, policy director for the American Federation of Government Employees, condemned the administration's framing of the cuts as a success. Simon said any theoretical financial gain is heavily outweighed by the damage inflicted on ordinary citizens. She warned that the absence of these employees guarantees degraded healthcare for veterans and practically 'nonexistent service' for the disabled and elderly.

100,000 Veterans Among Those Cut

Simon detailed how cuts to environmental agencies directly compromise air and water safety. She raised the situation inside federal prisons, currently operating with reduced corrections officers. Consumer product safety protocols have also been reduced, and programmes covering childhood nutrition, community vaccinations, and substance abuse now lack the personnel to function effectively.

Simon branded Hassett's comments as 'ignorant' and 'demonstrably pretty cruel' towards affected families. Roughly 100,000 of those who lost their jobs were military veterans, making the celebration of their redundancies, she said, particularly difficult to accept.

She concluded that the cuts harm everyone, and characterised the public boasting as a 'disgusting thing to hear' from a serving government official.

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