Reince Priebus, W.H. chief of staff, bullish on health care: I think it will happen this week

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Monday he thinks the House will pass its Obamacare replacement bill very soon and that it is not overdue, despite critics’ claims.

“I think it will happen this week,” Mr. Priebus told CBS’s This Morning.

Mr. Trump’s chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, also said Monday that he believes House Republicans will bring health care to the floor this week.

Their optimism comes two days after Mr. Trump told rally-goers in Pennsylvania he would be “very angry” at GOP lawmakers “if we don’t pass this damn thing quickly.”

Republicans are under pressure from their conservative base to follow through on their signature promise to scrap Obamacare. Democrats are ribbing them from the sidelines, saying their promises were a sham and that they don’t know what to do with the law’s popular consumer protections.

Mr. Priebus argued passage of a “signature” bill to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act in the coming weeks would be a relatively swift achievement for any president.

He said rapid passage of the stimulus bill during President Obama’s first couple months in office was “pre-baked” after the economic crisis hit during the preceding fall, and that other recent presidents had to wait until at least the summer to get a major bill through Congress.

“So this would be very quick for President Trump to get this thing through,” he said.

House leaders are treading warily, saying they don’t want to over-promise and risk a repeat of the health bill’s collapse in March amid an intra-party rebellion.

Yet they’re hopeful they can schedule a vote soon, now that hardline conservatives who helped to derail the first effort are now on board.

Many conservatives rallied behind changes that let states waive Obamacare’s “essential” health benefits and allow insurers to charge healthy people less than sicker ones, so long as they set up a high-risk pool to subsidize people with preexisting conditions.

Vote-counters, however, are trying to pick off enough lawmakers from a pool of centrists who say allowing states to charge sicker patients more than healthy ones is inconsistent with pledges Republicans made on a campaign trail.