Gary Cohn said he is confident that the Republicans have secured enough votes to pass a revised bill that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act this week.
In an interview with “CBS This Morning” Monday, the director of the National Economic Council said the White House is “going to keep moving on with our agenda.” Republicans delayed a vote on the bill last week because they feared they did not have enough votes.
“Do we have the votes for health care? I think we do,” Cohn said. “This is going to be a great week. We’re going to get health care down to the floor of the House. We’re convinced we’ve got the votes, and we’re going to keep moving on with our agenda.”
“As you said, we just rolled out our tax plan last week. We are very excited about our tax plan as well, so we are going to continue told drive President Trump’s agenda forward.”
"Do you have the votes for health care?" — @CharlieRose
"I think we do." — WH economic adviser Gary Cohn pic.twitter.com/Kh5WLsIbis— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) May 1, 2017
White House chief of staff Reince Priebus echoed the same confidence when he was asked about a vote happening this week.
“I certainly hope so,” Priebus said. “I think it will happen this week.”
"Are you expecting a health care vote this week?" — @NorahODonnell
"I certainly hope so… I think so." — @Reince Priebus#WHThisMorning pic.twitter.com/gJk3o3dDQP— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) May 1, 2017
At the end of March, House Republicans pulled their bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act on just minutes after they were scheduled to vote on it when they realized they did not have the votes.
Speaker Paul Ryan acknowledged that pulling the bill was a “setback,” but maintained that Republicans “came really close.”
“We are going to go back and figure out what the next steps are,” Ryan said. “We believed this bill was the best way to go, but we just didn’t get the consensus. I think our members know we did everything we could to get consensus. Obamacare is the law of the land, it’s going to remain the law of the land until it’s replaced.” (RELATED: Republicans Pull Health Care Bill Just Minutes After Members Were Scheduled To Vote On It)