Director of the Office of Budget and Management Mick Mulvaney said Republicans are so close on health care that he would consider going to the floor Wednesday if he were the House speaker.

“I think if I were the speaker of the House, I’d probably go to the floor today cause it’s just that close,” Mr. Mulvaney said on Fox News.

He said a new amendment from Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan to increase protection for those with pre-existing conditions might sway enough moderate members to give Republicans the votes needed to pass the bill.

“You may be seeing a breakthrough in the health care bill on the Hill and may see a vote as early as Saturday,” he said.

Mr. Mulvaney also addressed his obvious frustration at Tuesday’s White House briefing saying that he was upset how Democrats handled the budget negotiations.

“I’d never been in a negotiation with another party where they walked out of the negotiating room and ran to the press and told everybody how badly they’d treated the other side,” he said. “It will color our future discussion with the Democrats.”

Mr. Mulvaney also added that from his experience in these negotiations, he can understand what the president meant by saying the country could use a “good shutdown.”

“The appropriations process, the power of the purse process, that hasn’t functioned in over a decade,” he explained.

Mr. Mulvaney said that a shutdown would be a way to shake up the process.

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.