Politics

Trump has 'left everything on the field' for health-care bill, Spicer says

Spicer: President has 'left it on the field' for health bill
VIDEO2:0802:08
Spicer: President has 'left it on the field' for health bill

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Republican health-care bill at 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday.

Spicer said in his daily press briefing that President Donald Trump "has left everything on the field when it comes to this bill."

The White House spokesman made his remarks as House Speaker Paul Ryan visited the White House reportedly to tell the president the bill lacked the votes to pass.

At least 34 Republicans have said they will vote "no," or are leaning toward voting "no," on the legislation, enough to doom the plan's passage, according to an NBC News tally. That figure could change throughout the day.

Despite pushback from both conservative and moderate Republicans, Trump still demanded that the House vote on the bill on Friday.

At a high-stakes Republican House caucus meeting Thursday night, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said Trump is done negotiating details of the proposal, NBC reported. If Trump does not get a vote on the proposal, he will move on to other priorities and leave the ACA, popularly known as Obamacare in place, Mulvaney said.

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."

"He's made it clear that this is our moment. This is our opportunity to do it, but it is now up to members to make that decision whether or not they want to be part of this effort to repeal Obamacare," Spicer said.

— CNBC's Jacob Pramuk and Dan Mangan contributed to this report.