Health and Human Service director Tom Price on Friday predicted the Senate will pass its healthcare legislation this summer.
A guest on conservative Hugh Hewitt's radio show, Price said he believes Senate Republicans will repeal Obamacare before they break for August recess.
"Leader (Mitch) McConnell is absolutely committed to getting a bill out of the Senate, and we will continue to work with the leader and all the other senators who are interested, as I say, in working toward a positive, productive outcome," Price told Hewitt. "I believe the Senate will produce a bill this summer."
It's an optimistic outlook, given Sen. McConnell's assertion that it will not be quick and other Senators who refuse to play the timeline game.
Regardless, Price thinks the core of the American Health Care Act passed by the House will find the required votes in the Senate.
"The President has outlined his principles, which are to return the authority for Medicaid to the states, make certain we've got a transition timeline that works for patients, that we increase the ability for folks to use HSA's, that we make it so that the patients have choices, that they're the ones that are the ones selecting the kind of coverage that they want for themselves and for their family, so ending the mandates," Price said.
"And so long as the legislative branch sticks to those principles, then, and we can reach an agreement, then I think we'll be moving in a much, much better direction," Price said.