Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney predicts “you may see a vote, I don't know, as early as Saturday” on the health care legislation. | Getty Mulvaney: 'I’d probably go to the floor' now on health care vote

Republicans in the House of Representatives are “really, really close” to securing enough votes to pass legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told Fox News on Wednesday morning.

They’re so close, Mulvaney said, that if the decision were his, he would be ready to call for a floor vote right now. The OMB director predicted a “breakthrough” Wednesday morning that he said could bring more moderate GOP members on board by easing concerns about protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions.


Speaking to Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” Mulvaney predicted that “you may see a vote, I don't know, as early as Saturday” on the health care legislation, to which host Steve Doocy replied, “but right now, you don’t have the votes.”

“That's a really good question. I think it's really, really close,” Mulvaney said. “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.”

“You would go to the floor for a vote?” host Brian Kilmeade followed up.

“Oh, yeah,” Mulvaney replied.

With the House set to adjourn for a recess at the end of this week, pressure has built to move on health care legislation or else risk losing momentum as members return home to their districts. Eager for its first major legislative victory, the White House, too, has put pressure on GOP leaders on Capitol Hill to move on the health care legislation known as the American Health Care Act.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who is undecided on how he will vote on the AHCA, offered a firmer whip count in an interview on CNN’s “New Day,” saying it is a “complete toss of the coin” as to whether or not the House votes this week on a repeal-and-replace measure.

“I think they’re holding four to six votes short of what they need to go to the floor, and I don’t know how soft some of those votes that are sitting on the balance are,” King said. “But that’s my prediction: It’s just simply a toss of the coin on whether they will or whether they won’t.”

