UPDATE: The vote on the American Health Care Act has been delayed until Friday morning. The White House says the vote has been moved so members aren't voting at 3 a.m. However, the White House doesn't set the vote time. Instead, the House Majority leader does and has not confirmed the new time. At this time, there are not enough votes in the House to pass the bill.
***Original Post***
Just moments after the House Freedom Caucus emerged from a meeting with President Donald Trump without a deal on the American Health Care Act, the White House remained confident a vote will still be held Thursday night.
"There is no plan B, only plan A," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said during the daily briefing. "And we're going to win."
Currently 31 House members have pledged to vote against the legislation, which would ultimately lead it to failure on the floor. The White House needs to flip 10 votes for the bill to pass.
When pressed on why there isn't a plan B, especially considering the current vote tally, Spicer remained confident and denied the President's ultimate goal is to allow Obamacare to collapse on its own without Republican responsibility. Trump has said in the past allowing Obamacare to collapse would be the best thing to do politically, but would be unfair to Americans negatively impacted by the legislation.
"The President's plan is to pass the bill tonight, get it to down to the Senate and then sign a bill once it goes through conference. That's the President's plan and that's why the President's been fighting for it, that's why he's been trying to make it stronger and stronger every day," Spicer said. "He states a very clear reality which is that if it [the bill] doesn't do this [pass], it is a false choice to compare what we're doing to Obamcare because Obamacare is collapsing. Premiums are skyrocketing, the choices are going down, the deductibles are going up. There is no equivalency. Something is failing and we're trying to get rid of it to help the American people."
"The point the President is trying to make is that the politically expedient answer is to do nothing, but I think for the sake of the American people and the needs that they have in terms of healthcare, I think we owe it to them to do the right thing," Spicer continued. "We're focused on getting it done and winning."