Budget director Mick Mulvaney says Republicans are so 'close' on health care that he'd 'probably go to the floor' if he were speaker

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

published 3 May 2017

White House budget director Mick Mulvaney is very confident that Republicans are "really, really close" to securing enough votes to pass their health-care bill. So confident, in fact, that if he were in House Speaker Paul Ryan's shoes, he'd bring the American Health Care Act to the floor right about now. "If I were the speaker of the House, and I'm not — and by the way I'm thankful that I'm not, it's a miserable job — I'd probably go to the floor because it's just that close," Mulvaney said during an interview Wednesday morning on Fox & Friends.

"You would go to the floor for a vote?" host Brian Kilmeade responded. "Oh, yeah," Mulvaney said.

Republicans have yet to secure enough votes to pass the bill, but Mulvaney predicted a "breakthrough" Wednesday morning with waffling moderate Republicans who are concerned about the bill's lack of protections for people with pre-existing conditions. He also said a vote could happen "as early as Saturday." Right now, there is no vote scheduled and Congress is slated to go on an 11-day break beginning late Thursday.