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White House Daily Briefing; House Vote at 3:00 to Repeal Obamacare. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired March 24, 2017 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: But I think that he'd had enough discussions.

[13:30:00]

And it's -- it's -- it is not about improving the bill anymore. I think he has taken into consideration every member's thoughts and concerns and relayed those to the House.

And I think to the extent that -- that, you know, this balance of trying to get to 216 in this case expects that there are some people that come in with ideas, and say, "If you do that to get your vote, I'm going to give up 26," or, "To get these three, I'm going to give up 12."

And I think we have strict -- struck the right balance right now and incorporated it and is the strongest possible bill.

You know, and -- but he's going to continue to work as hard as he can until the very end.

Charlie (ph)?

QUESTION: How important is a live vote to the White House and to the president watching to see who's on his side and who's not?

SPICER: We -- I mean, we have a whip -- I mean, we've seen the whip counts -- the whip, Mr. Scalise, has done a phenomenal job of -- with Leader McCarthy of -- we know who's -- you know, where the vote count stands. And -- and so, it's not -- we don't -- you know, we don't need a live vote to tell us where the votes are. People have been pretty straightforward with where they are and what their outstanding issues are.

QUESTION: The president and then the speaker are meeting right now. Do you know -- can you tell us anything about the character of that meeting or what exactly they're looking at going forward?

SPICER: Well, they're -- they're discussing; they're not looking.

They're sitting down and talking about where it stands, some of the outstanding issues, and whether they're onesies or twosies or five -- you know, how many -- what are the -- what are the concerns and outstanding issues of some of the blocs and some of the individuals and -- and having a discussion on that. Anita (ph)?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) SPICER: Can I -- there's somebody that's going to ask when it passes and...

QUESTION: OK, well, if you want to have a briefing right after the vote, then -- OK.

(LAUGHTER)

SPICER: All right, you guys -- score one for you.

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: If the bill doesn't pass, does -- does the president still have confidence in Speaker Ryan?

SPICER: I think he answered that question earlier today.

QUESTION: Well, do you think that -- does he think that he should step down if it doesn't...

SPICER: He answered that question earlier and he said he did. So, asked and answered.

QUESTION: And then (inaudible) today after the vote, whatever happens, how will we get a response from you all?

SPICER: Electronically or verbally, one of the two.

Peter (ph)?

QUESTION: Thank you, Sean.

This is the president's first foray into legislative sausage- making process, so to speak.

SPICER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Has he reflected at all on the experience? I mean, how does he feel it differs from, for example, negotiating a real estate deal, a business deal? Is it more complicated, is it trickier? What's it -- what's his feelings about...

SPICER: I think we'll have plenty of time reflect on it after -- after we do this. So I'll -- I know that -- I'll just leave it at that for now.

Kristen (ph)?

QUESTION: Thanks.

Without prejudging the outcome...

(LAUGHTER)

SPICER: Thank you.

QUESTION: ... does the president in any way regret pursuing how health care first, given how complicated it has been?

SPICER: No.

I think if you think about it, legislatively, in order to maximize -- and I know this is -- for most people it doesn't make a ton of sense, but the -- the savings that you achieve through the first reconciliation of health care, which we're doing through the 2017 budget process, which still continues, allows us to utilize the savings in that process to maximize additional tax reform measures that will start in the 2018 -- F.Y. 2018 reconciliation process.

So, while that sounds like a ton of inside baseball gobbledy- gook, the reality is in order to maximize tax reform, both on the corporate side to make our businesses more competitive and to give individuals, especially middle-class Americans, more tax relief, doing this in that way maximizes the amount of savings that you can use for the second reconciliation package, which would be tax reform.

Doing it the first way, you can do, but again, you're not going to achieve the full potential that you could if you did the way that is happening now.

QUESTION: Why...

SPICER: That being said, I mean, it's not -- it's not a question of -- we all knew how big this was -- it's one-fifth of the economy and what it took.

The -- the issue is is that I think, you know, the disparate interests that are there and some of the process explaining, if you will; that understanding the way that this is happening -- and I think legislatively it's complicated. And for a lot of folks, you know, they just -- why can't you do it all in one fell swoop? What's the Byrd Rule? Why does -- what's reconciliation? Why do you have to do it three phases?

I think for a lot of people that is a little bit complicated to understand and to under -- and it's not just a question of understanding. I think one of the other things that the president and the team has found is that there's a lot of issues where people are wondering, "Well, if I vote for this, how can I guarantee that I get something in phase two?" which is the administration -- administrative pieces that Secretary Price would institute.

And then third is, "Well, you know, these legislative things, it will take 60 votes to complete the overall package. You know, how do I have" -- and so there's a lot of -- the comprehensive nature of this makes it very complicated.

And I think that's a lot different. Normally you have one bill that sails through and it deals with all of these things and you can roll it all in. If someone has an amendment, you add it in. SPICER: In this process, we're having to have all these one-off

discussions about, you know, will the Senate accept this if you put in? If you put it in, will they -- not only will they accept it, but will the Byrd Rule take place and kick out the whole thing?

There's -- that -- that complicates this probably like nothing else.

QUESTION: Understood. Just to put a fine point on it, though, was it his initial ask to do health care first or did House Speaker Paul Ryan say...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: I think this was something that during the transition we sat down and gamed out in coordination with the House in terms of what should go first and why. But again, it's not a question of just what should go first, it's a question of if you don't do it first, you know, do you lose some of the potential in savings that you would achieve through the second reconciliation.

QUESTION: Would it have been wiser to try to work with the Freedom Caucus, for example, on something like infrastructure reform to build up...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: Look, Kristen (ph), we've talked about this since 2010. Every Republican, with the exception of probably a handful, has campaigned from dog catcher on up that they would do everything they could to repeal and replace Obamacare. And I think to get in and say, "Hey, you should have done something else," wouldn't be fair to the American people who have said, "OK, I'll vote for you, but I want you to fulfill this pledge."

QUESTION: And just finally, does the buck stop with him on this?

SPICER: Well, I mean, like I said earlier, you can't force someone to vote a certain way. We've -- I think in the sense that has he done every single thing, has he pulled out every stop, has he called every member, has he tweaked every tweak, has he done every single thing he can possibly and used every minute of every day that's possible to get this thing through, the answer is yes. Has the team put everything out there? Have we left everything on the field? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, this isn't a dictatorship and we've got to expect members to ultimately vote, you know, how they will according to what they think. But I they're -- as the president made clear, they're the ones who have to go back and answer to their constituents why they didn't fulfill a pledge that they made.

QUESTION: Non-health care question for you. Regarding these documents that Devin Nunes says show incidental intelligence collection of identifying information about people associated with the Trump campaign, can you categorically rule out that Chairman Nunes received or was alerted to these documents from someone at the White House?

SPICER: I'm not aware of where he got the documents from. I don't know.

QUESTION: Can you rule out...

SPICER: I can't -- I don't know where he got them from. He didn't state it, so I don't -- I don't have anything for you on that. So I cannot say anything more than I don't know at this point.

Cecilia.

QUESTION: So if the president has done everything he can possibly do and the speaker has done everything he can possible do, the team has put everything on the table, who's to blame right now for this holdup in your eyes?

SPICER: Well, again, I -- let's wait and see how this thing -- I don't -- I'm not assigning blame.

QUESTION: Well, but you wanted a vote even last night or this morning. So there is a stall. So -- so...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: No, no, no. We did want a vote last night and I think that's -- as I mentioned, as we got into the evening hours, the idea wasn't (ph) to bury this at, you know, 12 o'clock or 1 o'clock in the morning.

QUESTION: Initially, you were asking for one yesterday and there was a statement from...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: No, no, no. And -- no, no. And -- and we -- and I'm not backing away from that. We wanted a vote yesterday, but what -- you know, as we got -- the process went on, we realized that that vote would occur in the -- probably actually into today in terms of like calendar wise. And that doing it at one, two, three in the morning was not something that would be in keeping with what we had promised.

QUESTION: So who's to blame for the stall?

SPICER: I don't -- there's no.

QUESTION: Is it the Freedom Caucus? Is it...

SPICER: I think it's not a blame. Right now, it's a question of getting all these members together and dealing with all -- I mean, you've seen the activity. You've seen the members go back and forth. It's -- right now, we're still in that active discussion phase with trying to figure out who we can get on board and whether or not we can move forward.

But there -- this is -- we're not -- we're not there yet.

QUESTION: But you put this ultimatum out there. Is the president right now still confident that he can see this bill through? (CROSSTALK)

SPICER: The president is confident that we have done every single thing possible, made the case, updated it, added and done everything to listen to the concerns and to do everything that fulfills the promises that we and members have made with the American people.

John.

QUESTION: Thank you, Sean. Without pre-judging the outcome of the vote today, but focusing on your comments and the president's saying this would be a vote against life if people voted against it. Several Republican members said they did not want the vote on Planned Parenthood in this particular bill. Congressman John Faso of New York was particularly outspoken.

Did anything come up in the negotiation or from the White House saying they guarantee a separate vote on Planned Parenthood and leave it out of the bill?

SPICER: I'm not aware of that, John. I'm not aware that that happened.

QUESTION: The White House, from your tone and the president's, the White House wanted the Planned Parenthood vote in?

SPICER: I'd have to go back and look at -- there's a lot of discussions that go on. I honestly can't remember how or when that came up.

QUESTION: The other thing I wanted to ask was that the last two members who announced they were no, Chris Smith and Frank LoBiondo, Republicans from New Jersey, both cited the number of Medicaid recipients in their district as their premiere reason. Congressman LoBiondo said in three counties, 30 percent of his constituents were on Medicaid and he wanted no damage. Was there anything discussed on Medicaid? Was it on the table in the negotiations?

SPICER: Well, I know that there was a discussion about the expansion of Medicaid and some of the work requirements with respect to able bodied Americans who are receiving that.

But you know, I would say this. One of the things that, not member specific to either of the members from New Jersey, is that members have to understand that the current system is unsustainable. So if you vote no today, then what is your alternative? And what do you want -- because right now, there's a lot of folks that are gonna -- that have said they're gonna vote no, which is their prerogative. But at the end of the day, the current Obamacare system will collapse on its own.

So the question that they have to ask themselves or that they're gonna be asked by their constituents is then what is your alternative because right now, this is the choice that will save the system. The other choice is to do nothing and that will -- that is going collapse the system.

Eamon?

QUESTION: Thanks, Sean. The stock market has been largely looking at this as a proxy for how you're gonna do on your tax cut proposal. (inaudible) what the lessons learned here are about how this was handled that you might apply to the tax reform?

SPICER: Yeah, look, Eamon, I discussed this earlier. I'm not gonna start getting into lessons learned while we're in the middle of debate of a current bill. We'll have plenty of time if you want to stop by over the weekend, we can talk about -- you know...

(LAUGHTER)

Glad to sit down with you on that. But again, we're not -- right now, we're focused on getting -- getting the votes. The House is -- has a vote scheduled. That's what our focus is, not to figure out -- we'll have plenty of time for that.

Jen.

QUESTION: Is the president going to just simply wash his hands of this today?

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: We're not -- the president's gonna wash his hands several times, but I don't know...

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: Central campaign promise of the president of the United States...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: I understand that. And so -- I get it. So slow down, let's turn on C-SPAN and all watch this together and then we can discuss what happened.

Jen.

QUESTION: Treasury Secretary Mnuchin was talking this morning about doing tax reform by the August recess. Do you think that that's a reasonable timeline? And why the rush? Are there any lessons learned from this health care debate?

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: Again, I think tax reform is something that we've talked about. There's plenty of time. I think it's a goal and I think it's an ambitious one and I think it's one that -- that we're gonna try to stick to, but let's -- but let's get by today and then we'll lay it out.

But I think tax reform is something that the president is very committed to. You've seen him very publicly in the last couple open events talk about how excited he is to move on once this is done to tax reform because he understands both sides of this, that the business piece of this -- we are so uncompetitive when it comes to our other worldly (ph) competitors in terms of our tax rate. And when we have these discussions about keeping companies from either shipping jobs overseas or growing -- bringing back jobs to America, the two things that come up over and over again are our tax rate and our regulatory system.

And I think he understands that on the tax front, we can be a lot more competitive with the rest of the world in growing American jobs here at home, and frankly, expanding manufacturing if we lower that. But also, that the American middle class desperately needs and wants a tax break. And I think the more that we can do with that -- so this is something that I think we're gonna be continuing to work on and we'll have more on that later.

Trey (ph).

QUESTION: How much credit will the president take for the outcome of this health care bill?

(LAUGHTER)

SPICER: I'm gonna refer you to like the last eight people. Let's see where we go from here.

QUESTION: Quick follow-up.

SPICER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Is the White House still as confident as they were earlier in the week and is the president still as confident as he was earlier in the week that this health care bill will pass?

SPICER: I would suggest to you -- it's my answer that I said to Kristen (ph) is that we are confident that we have done everything and it is now up to voters.

I mean, the -- the reason the president called for a vote and respectfully, you know, obviously it's not up to us, but the reason that he asked Speaker Ryan and Leader McCarthy to call for a vote is we've done everything. We've done everything single thing that -- every meeting, every call, every discussion, every idea has been out there, adjudicated, listened to. And I think that now is the time for the vote. And so we're a couple hours away and let's see where we go.

QUESTION: Does the level of confidence remain?

SPICER: I -- I think, in the sense of what we did, yes.

Peter?

QUESTION: So, I'll ask you, president -- the president can order every surveillance transcript that mentions himself or his associates, in regards to Russia, for the investigation that he called for, to be brought to his desk at any time. Has he done that? SPICER: No.

QUESTION: So yesterday you were (ph) asked specifically -- you said, "The concern should be less about the process, and more about the substance." I asked if that would be one way to get to -- directly to the substance.

On the substance, Devin Nunes said initially that he, quote -- there was evidence that, quote, "clearly showed that the president- elect and his team were at least monitored."

Then today he said -- asked if Trump or his associates were monitored or mentioned, he said, "We don't know. We won't know until we actually receive all the documentation."

The president said he's somewhat vindicated. So given the fact that Devin Nunes doesn't actually know if the president was monitored or whether he was even mentioned, what is he vindicated by?

SPICER: Well, I think that there has been an acknowledgement that -- that there are documents out there showing that people were surveilled or monitored to some degree.

QUESTION: They could have exclusively been foreigners, Devin Nunes concedes.

SPICER: I -- well, I -- Devin Nunes also made it clear that he's going to have a hearing later next week with several members of -- of the intelligence community, and calling them -- others back. And so let's -- let's wait and -- and see what...

QUESTION: What is the president vindicated by?

SPICER: The -- the -- the president said he felt somewhat vindicated, because I think that there's an acknowledgement that he's -- that as we proceed down this discussion, it continues to show that there was something there. And that despite the constant discussion about the process...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: But he said, "We don't -- we won't know."

SPICER: Hold on, Peter. I -- I -- I understand. I get this is -- I -- I understand it.

And he also said that he's going to have a hearing, and he's going to call the people back, and he's waiting for the documents. So let's wait and let that process evolve.

QUESTION: Thanks, Sean.

A couple of questions, first about Keystone.

What changed? It seemed like it took forever, in covering the Obama administration, for this thing to finally get over the finish line. It never did. And relatively quickly -- less than 65 days in -- it's finally made its way over the finish line.

What changed, especially with respect to the State Department's view of the Keystone XL Pipeline?

And -- and is it your opinion that it would be good to hear from the president, win, lose or draw, after what we learn today vis-a-vis health care reform?

SPICER: So, simply put on Keystone, it was a priority. I mean, the president came in, he signed an executive order on it. He had talked about it during the campaign. And he made it a priority. He made it a priority for this -- for his team here at the White House to get it done; not only the jobs, but incorporating U.S. steel, and there's a lot of things.

But I don't think it's any simpler than he made it a priority for him, his team, this administration, the Department of State, and others. And -- and that's it.

He recognizes the importance of that to both energy and to jobs in our economy, and simply got it done.

And I'll leave it up to the president, once we -- we go forward, to see how it goes then.

Margaret?

QUESTION: Sean, as dealmaker, why does the president feel that this take-it-or-leave-it approach is the right one on health care?

SPICER: Because I think he has done -- I mean, you -- at some point, you've listened to everybody. You've gotten all other ideas. You've gone back and forth. You've incorporated them. You've assuaged them in some way, shape or form. You've updated the bill. And I -- and a lot of times, it's the same people coming back, over and over again. And you go, "OK, I've listened to you. I've taken your ideas." At some point, we either+ have a deal, or we don't.

And I think that's where the president finally drew the line and said, "We've been having this discussion. We've had the meetings. And -- and we've done everything possible to address the concerns and ideas and opinions that people have brought up." And that -- I mean, I don't think you can say it any simpler. I think he has done every single thing possible, and you end up, at some point, finding yourself going around and around, and saying, "Hey, let's just -- let's call the vote."

QUESTION: But isn't there a political cost to a collapse, potentially?

SPICER: I -- I think that -- that at some point there's a political cost to dragging this out as well, and saying, "Let's just keep letting it go."

And I think that's where, you know, we -- we came to a decision that it had -- it had gotten as far as it can go. Caitlyn (ph)?

QUESTION: If there is a collapse, though, isn't there a cost that the president will at some point have to, you know, pay for? If it's either (inaudible) economic...

SPICER: In terms of what?

QUESTION: The collapse that you have been predicting...

SPICER: No. I -- I think that -- look, members -- look, this is...

QUESTION: Besides -- besides, you know, the upcoming election in 2018, I'm talking about economic impact, all the impact on the (inaudible)...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: I -- I get it.

And I think -- and -- and I think that what -- we'll -- we'll have to look at the landscape.

And at some point -- you know, I think right now, Democrats made a decision during this debate that they -- they wanted to stick by Obamacare. I think at some point -- the president has talked about this -- that, you know, this is going to collapse. And, you know, let's see where this thing heads.

SPICER: But I think right now we have a plan on the table that allows for a solution that will address all of the concerns that, frankly, were initially brought up, as far as what the Affordable Care Act was supposed to do.

Caitlin (ph)?

QUESTION: So, if you know what (ph) the vote counts are right now and there's no discussion of pulling the health care bill and it gets closer to 3:30 and you still don't have the votes, why vote?

SPICER: I -- I'm not going to discuss our strategy. I mean...

QUESTION: But you see what I'm saying...

SPICER: I do...

QUESTION: If you know what the votes are and you know that you don't have the votes for it to pass, why vote?

SPICER: I understand your question. I'm just not going to comment on our strategy.

I think the president and -- and the speaker are going to have a discussion about where those votes are and what some of the members' needs are and we'll -- we'll take it from there.

Athena (ph)?

QUESTION: You talked about all the work that the president and his team have put into this, with early morning calls, late calls. The other day one of the members of Congress who was here to meet with the president, Congressman McHenry, called -- said (ph) "We're bring him to The Closer." You embraced that -- that nickname from the podium.

Whatever happens today, do you -- do you still feel comfortable calling the president The Closer when it comes to deal-making on all this (ph)?

SPICER: Look, I think I said it to Kristin (ph) and a couple others. I think he has done everything possible.

There is no one, either on Capitol Hill or any honest observer of what's happened, that doesn't recognize the extraordinary feats. But at some point, as I've mentioned, this isn't -- this isn't a one-on- one negotiation. This is -- you know, you have to get to 216.

And I don't -- I think part of this question is to go to some of those noes and ask them, you know, "What is the -- what is the reason? And what would you do?

And the problem is is that, as I mentioned before, there's this balancing act, where to get these two members you're giving up 14.

And -- but we're doing everything possible to get to that 214 -- 216. And that -- I don't -- I think when you actually objectively look at the effort that was undertaken, there is no question that every single thing that has been done, has been done to maximize the vote count on this.

QUESTION: And to be very, very clear -- this has been addressed a few times but I want to get a clear answer -- you talk a lot about how this is the chance, this is the opportunity...

SPICER: Yeah.

QUESTION: ... for Republicans to -- to -- to make good on campaign promises.

I asked the president a couple of days ago what happens when you keep pushing if this fails today and he said, "We'll wait and see -- we'll have to see what happens."

Can you say -- are you saying right now that there will be no future attempts to -- to comply with that campaign promise if today's attempt fails?

SPICER: I can't say that there'll never be.

And, again, I'm not going to be fatalistic. We've got a vote at 3:30.

I just -- I know that the president's made it clear that this is the effort, this the train that's leaving the station, and that he expects everyone -- you know, this is our opportunity. And he's got a lot left on the agenda that he wants to get done, whether it's, you know, immigration, taxes, the border wall. There's so many other things that he wants to have get done, that we're not going to sit around and -- and figure out -- this is the opportunity, this is the time, this is the opportunity for every member who has said that they want to repeal and replace Obamacare to put their vote in the yes column.

QUESTION: And last one.

If it does pass today, you've talked a lot about this being done in three phases...

SPICER: Right.

QUESTION: ... today being only phase one. Phase two and phase three -- one of the problems I think is that this -- this is not information that is in scorable form, the steps Secretary Price might take...

SPICER: Right.

QUESTION: ... and then what may end up in this final bill.

Is there...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: Well, I don't know yet. At some point maybe it can -- but, I mean...

QUESTION: Can you put the administrative steps that...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: I don't know. That's...

QUESTION: (inaudible) being attempted to be done, because that's the kind of (inaudible)...

(CROSSTALK)

SPICER: I think right now we're kind of focused on the vote.

But -- but I think that we'll have either OMB or CBO take a look at not just the other elements, but can you look at it in its -- in its totality. I don't know that that's -- that that's a good question that I can have the OMB folks address, potentially with the CBO folks.

Thank you, guys. We'll be -- I'm sure we'll have some additional updates for today. Thank you.

[13:54:02] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And good afternoon. I'm Anderson Cooper. This is CNN's essential coverage of a key moment for the Republican effort to replace Obamacare.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Wolf Blitzer. You've been listening to the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer. He said the president has committed everything he can to this health care vote. He says it's now scheduled between 3:30-4:00 p.m. eastern. The president understands, he says, this is it. Make no mistake, he said, this is our moment, this is our opportunity to do it.

Let's go to Dana Bash up on Capitol Hill.

Dana, it looks like it could rather tight, this vote.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's an understatement, Wolf. The fact of the matter is the press secretary, although he said time and time again during the briefing that it's time to take the vote -- and that the president they believe has done as much as he could to get this bill passed, he declined over and over again to say they think they have the votes. The bottom line is, as of right now, I don't know an hour and a half before they're scheduled to go in and start to take the vote, it's not there. It's not there. They do not have enough Republicans on board to pass this repeal-and- replace bill for Obamacare.

[13:55:19] And you heard the argument that the White House made, the spokesman made, which is what we are hearing going on behind closed doors all around the Capitol Hill, from members of leadership, from the president making phone calls, on down to the people who are either leaning "no" or "no," saying this was a campaign promise. Take away the specifics, which are important, the substance is very important here, but just on the pure raw politics of it, this was a campaign promise to repeal Obamacare, this is what's on the table. And as one member of the leadership whip team here, someone calling, trying to get the votes, said, if not this, what? And if not now, when?

Which is why you heard at the White House this spokesman say that -- Sean Spicer say that the White House wants to take this vote. And that's another headline here. We reported before this briefing, Wolf, that the House speaker went to the White House to show the president that the votes -- it's not clear that the votes. The votes are not there right now, what does the president want to do. Both from the podium, from Sean Spicer, and according to a senior administration official I was communicating with out of the meeting with the president and the speaker, the answer is the president wants to take the vote, roll the dice, see how it goes.

BLITZER: So the prospects, Dana, just postponing the votes, canceling the vote, what are you hearing up there?

BASH: Based on what we heard from the White House, based on what I am hearing from my sources at the White House as well, it doesn't sound like that's what the president -- no, it is not what the president wants the Republican leadership here in the House to do. He wants the vote to go on.

Now, the president doesn't control the floor schedule, the president doesn't control the votes. It is the Republican leadership here in the legislative branch that does that. So it is going to be ultimately up to the House speaker, House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, and others to make the final decision about rolling the dice. But the fact that the speaker went to the White House, talked to the president, tried to get his buy-in and input on this, because they know full that, win, lose or draw, it is going to be not just the speaker who is going to get the blame or the credit, it is also very much going to be the president. They all ran on this, very intensity, this meaning the notion of repealing Obamacare.

COOPER: And I want to play for our viewers some of what Sean Spicer about what the president is thinking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPICER: There's no questions in my mind at least that the president and the team here have left everything on the field. We have called every member that had a question or concern, tried to the extent possible take into consideration ideas that would strengthen the bill. And it's now going to be up to the members of the House to decide whether or not they want to follow through on the promise of that. But we're going to continue to work with the speaker and the leadership there to see where the votes are. We're getting closer and closer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Dana, if this vote doesn't take place or it takes place and this does not pass, what is the next step? I mean, that's not something that Sean Spicer wanted to focus on, but as he said in yesterday's press conference, this is Plan A. There is no Plan B.

BASH: Because it's true. There absolutely is not Plan B. That's not spin coming from the White House spokesman. That is fact. There is no Plan B at the White House. There is no Plan B here. This is it. This is their move. And it does come with a lot of frustration from many conservatives who we have talked to that they feel that the House speaker started to craft this bill in a way that is already too moderate for conservatives because it is the beginning of the process. They were hoping to pass it in the House and then it needs to go the Senate where it is sort of, almost by definition, made more moderate because of the nature of the Republican Senators there, where they come from and the input that they have.

So look, there's already been a lot of second guessing, Monday morning quarterbacking. That started last night. And even before that, a lot of whispers and finger pointing about who is to blame if this goes down. But the bottom line is, as I said to you, a member of the leadership whip team in this hallway, not long ago, said to me, if we don't do this, we don't have anything else to go to. We have got to at least try. We have got to at least see where this goes.

And the feeling is, among some members of the leadership, is similar to what we are hearing from the White House today, which is of two bad scenarios, two potentially bad scenarios, pulling the bill or having it fail. They believe that pulling the bill is worse. At least if they have it fail, they show that they tried. People are on record. And then the political chips will fall --