Spicer Leaves No Daylight Between Ryan, Trump On Health Care Bill
- by Leland Aguilar
- in Entertaiment
- — Mar 26, 2017
Sean Spicer got catty with several reporters for their being "so negative" with questions today about whether the vote on the American Health Care Act (ACHA) will succeed.
He quickly corrected his error and said "tax reform" before briefly dissembling for a bit as he regained his footing.
When a reporter asked on Friday if the president would be comfortable with Obamacare continuing in the event that the GOP plan doesn't pass, Spicer tersely responded, "No, he's not".
If Republicans had the votes to pass the bill, or some modified version of it, we would either see a vote or some sort of timetable.
"But at the end of the day, this isn't a dictatorship".
Women are not going to forget that a group of male elected officials met in the White House to negotiate away maternity care and women's health in an effort to pass the worst bill for women's health in a generation.
Even as Spicer was briefing the press corps, Ryan traveled to the White House to meet with Trump about the future of his signature effort. It became a running joke during the briefing that Spicer would not answer questions about "what has been learned" from this process, given that the vote had not been held. Spicer said that doing health care first was the smart choice because it can help open up funds to finance tax cuts.
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney reportedly told House Republicans that Trump expects the bill to move forward as is, or he will allow the Affordable Care Act to remain in place, despite pledges from both the president and Republican lawmakers to repeal it.
Just past 1 PM EST, AP News tweeted that "House lawmakers and aides [said] the health care bill is short of support ahead of vote demanded by President Trump".
To be sure, I get the point of the White House's anxiety.
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