It's "probably 50-50" whether healthcare reform legislation will come up before the House for a vote this week, and it will be a tough job reaching the 216 votes it needs to progress to the Senate, Rep. Pete King said Tuesday.
"We just came out of of the Republican conference, and Speaker [Paul Ryan] did say he is within a handful of votes of getting it through," the New York Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program.
"Only he and the whips really have the count. I would say it's probably within a few votes of the 216 they need."
There is a "full-court press" on to get the votes, King said, including from President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, "but it is going to get down to the wire whether they can get it done by Thursday or Friday, or [if] we'll have to stay [over]."
Meanwhile, King, who is on the House Intelligence Committee, Tuesday denied that the group ever got "off track" during the controversy surrounding Chairman Devin Nunes, who agreed to step aside temporarily following ethics questions concerning information he'd gathered during a White House visit.
"I give Nunes a credit for stepping aside," said King, noting that on Thursday FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers will appear before the committee for a closed-door meeting.
"The purpose is to see if Director Comey can answer a number of questions he was unable to answer at the public hearing because of the classified nature," King said. "It's one more step we're taking but this is going to go on for a while. It will be very exhaustive. My own belief right now is I do believe the Russians interfered with the election. However, I am not aware of any evidence that would show collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia as far as influencing as far as the Trump campaign going along with collusion or attempt to sway the election."
King said his question to Comey would be about whether he has any evidence concerning collusion.
"He says because the investigation is ongoing there is only so much information he can give us," said King. "He is only one of our sources and may not be able to tell us as much as we like. We'll interview all the main characters, Carter Page, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, anyone at all involved directly in this issue is going to be questioned by the staffers and members and then it will be made in a full hearing later on."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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