White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney says he apologized to President Trump after the GOP’s ObamaCare replacement bill collapsed last month.
Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that he apologized for failing to understand the internal divisions inside the GOP during the negotiation process.
“I told the president that I feel like I let him down on the first run through at healthcare,” Mulvaney said.
“I completely misunderstood and misread the tensions in the House. … So, I think one of the biggest people to blame for the failure of the health care bill was me,” he added.
The bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare was pulled from the House floor before a vote after it became clear it didn’t have enough support from Republicans to pass.
{mosads}One of the biggest roadblocks in the way of the healthcare bill was the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which vehemently opposed the legislation for being too moderate and not doing enough to fully repeal ObamaCare.
Mulvaney said he was unable to foresee the bitter division between the moderate and conservative factions within the party.
Despite the failure to unite the GOP behind healthcare reform legislation, the White House budget director is taking the lead in negotiating the spending bill with Congress.
Washington is facing a Friday deadline to fund the government and avert a shutdown that would begin on Trump’s 100th day as president.