National Economic Council director on egg prices, bird flu and inflation

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council, spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the price of eggs and the bird flu outbreak.

Brennan said egg prices in grocery stores have gone up due to the outbreak as well as labor costs, prompting her to ask how the Trump administration will get the outbreak under control, with Hassett saying the administration has a "multi-faceted plan to end inflation."

"We're going to have a macroeconomic change that has supply side tax cuts so we have more supply, and we're going to reduce government spending, both through what DOGE is doing, and through congressional action. And so therefore, the macroeconomic forces that Jason Furman said [in a piece in 'Foreign Affairs'] were a tragedy are going to be reversed. That's a good thing. Then we're also going to have a lot of energy production, a lot of deregulation. And then finally, when needed, we're going to focus on the individual thing-by-thing pieces."

Kevin Hassett, Director, National Economic Council

Hassett also shared how they plan on dealing with the outbreak saying:

"What we need to do is have better ways, with biosecurity and medication and so on, to make sure that the perimeter doesn't have to kill the chickens. Have a better, smarter perimeter. And so having a smart perimeter is what we're working on, and we're finalizing the ideas about how to do that with the best scientists in government. And that's the kind of thing that should have happened a year ago, and if it had, then egg prices would be, you know, a lot better than they are now. But the avian flu is a real thing."

During the interview, Brennan and Hassett talked about inflation, with President Donald Trump calling for interest rates to be lowered, prompting Brennan to ask why the president thinks that's going to lower grocery prices, and Hassett responded saying:

"If we get inflation under control, then that takes the pressure off the [Federal Reserve]. And one way to tell whether markets think, are we getting inflation under control, is to look at longer term interest rates that the Fed doesn't affect directly. And if you look at it, the 10 year treasury rate has dropped about 40 basis points over the last couple of weeks while we announced our plan to control inflation. That saved the American people about $40 billion, about $40 billion, just from talking about the stuff that we're about to do."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Hassett, click here.