Mulvaney: It Is Trump’s View Senate Shouldn’t ‘Move On’ Until Health Care Gets Done

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said the Senate should not vote on anything else until they vote again on repealing and replacing Obamacare.

Partial transcript as follows:

TAPPER: Let me return to health care. Following this week’s collapse of Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare and on occasion replace it, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said he’s ready to move on to other issues.President Trump seems pretty stuck on the issue. He’s been tweeting about it all weekend long, including this morning. This is what he tweeted yesterday — quote — “Unless the Republican senators are total quitters, repeal and replace is not dead. Demand another vote before voting on any other bill.” Is this official White House policy, that nothing should be voted on in Congress, not even the debt ceiling, before the Senate votes again on health care?

MULVANEY: Well, I think — yes. And I think what you’re seeing there is the president simply reflecting the mood of the people. Go and poll the American public and find out what the most important issue is to them right now, and it’s health care. So, in the White House’s view, they can’t move on in the Senate. In the people’s view, they should move on in the Senate. They should stay and work and figure out a way to solve this problem.

Keep in mind, you’re talking about something they promised to do for seven years. You can’t promise folks you’re going to do something for seven years, and then not do it. So, in addition to this policy consideration, you do have Obamacare. It is failing. It is hurting people. So, to not change it allows that to go forward. That’s a policy consideration. At the same time, you have the political consideration that you promised folks you would do this for seven years. You cannot go back on that. So, yes, they need to stay, they need to work, they need to pass something. And I think that’s not only official White House position on this right now. It’s sort of the national attitude towards it.

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