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.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The bill won't pass if Republicans lose 22 votes. As it stands, 21 Republicans are leaning towards voting against the bill, and 22 members remain undecided.
Watch Mulvaney's full interview below. The health-care discussion starts around the 5:50 mark. Becca Stanek
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.