White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday there’s no guarantee Americans who lost jobs because of the coronavirus outbreak will get them back.
In an interview on ABC News’ “This Week,” Kudlow said he was an “optimist” but that he could not make promises about the jobs recovery when the COVID-19 crisis abates.
"I can't guarantee it. I wish I could,” he said.
“We're trying to keep folks working,” he added about a $2T relief bill. “We're trying to let them have enough assistance to get through daily family needs with the kids.”
"We're also protecting payrolls, all of the loans and loan guarantees will be forgivable … provided the small business people hang onto their payrolls,” he said.
He conceded the bill isn’t perfect, however.
"It may not be perfect, but I think it's going to give a tremendous amount of resources to get us through what we still believe is going to be a question of weeks and months,” he said.
“It's the largest mainstream financial assistance package in the history of the United States, so it's hard to know if we could get everything, help everybody,” he added.
“I'm an optimist. I think the sheer resources here -- we are putting in whatever it takes, we're using every federal power lever possible to help folks and it's going right into middle, lower-middle class people."
Kudlow said money targeted for small businesses will be coming to them “this coming week,” while checks to individuals throughout the country will arrive “probably in two weeks.”