White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that President Donald Trump would be open to taking out a repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate from tax reform legislation if it became an "impediment."
The House of Representatives passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Thursday by a 227-205 vote, with 13 Republicans and all House Democrats voting against it.
A major goal of the Trump administration, the bill was touted by Republicans as simplifying the tax code, cutting taxes for the middle class, lowering the corporate tax rate and resulting in economic growth.
Senate Republicans are drawing up their own legislation that would include a repeal of the individual Obamacare mandate, but Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine.) expressed reservations about tacking that onto tax reform.
With only a slim majority in the upper chamber, Republicans can ill afford to lose votes.
Collins appeared prior to Mulvaney on "State Of The Union" and host Jake Tapper asked Mulvaney about her concerns.
"If we can repeal part of Obamacare as part of a tax bill and have a tax bill that is still a good tax bill that can pass, that's great," Mulvaney said. "If it becomes an impediment to getting the best tax bill we can, then we're OK with taking it out. So I think it's up to the Senate and the House to sort of hammer out those details."
"As of now, do you think it's an impediment?" Tapper asked.
"I don't, actually ... If they do get rid of this penalty, the folks who benefit from that are predominately folks who make less than $50,000 or $100,000 a year," he said.
Tapper cited the Joint Committee on Taxation's report that if the Senate legislation became law, Americans earning $30,000 or less would pay higher taxes beginning in 2021; the group projected the increase from repealing the Affordable Care Act's mandate that individuals purchase health insurance.
"The bottom line is that the president is not going to sign a bill that raises taxes on the middle classes. Period," Mulvaney said.
Mulvaney noted that obviously less Americans would be covered by health insurance if no longer required to purchase it.
"If we really believe that whatever comes out of the House and Senate conference committee before Christmas raises taxes on the middle class, the president's not going to sign it," he said.