The Slatest

Top WH Official Says They Have the AHCA Votes. Top Congressional Aide Says Not So Fast.

Gary Cohn, director of the U.S. National Economic Council.
National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.

Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images

There is nothing this White House loves more than unrealistically puffing up health care reform’s prospects for passage in the House of Representatives. The administration always has to take things a step or two beyond what House leaders are capable of delivering. Either the White House somehow hasn’t learned to stop doing this after repeatedly over-promising and under-delivering on the AHCA—which would be equal parts bizarre and comical—or they know what they’re doing and simply enjoy setting the speaker up for a fall.

In March, when the American Health Care Act clearly did not have even 200 votes, let alone the 216 needed to pass it, the White House finally demanded a vote take place within 24 hours. That fell apart. The vote never happened.

When talks revived a few weeks before the April congressional recess, the White House applied pressure to get a vote the day before they left. All the House could muster was attaching an amendment in the Rules Committee.

The White House applied serious press on the House leadership to pass the bill last week to align with the completion of the president’s first 100 days. Some ambitious administration official was saying on April 21 that compromise language might be ready by that afternoon, with a vote the following week. Though the House leadership made great strides in its whip count last week by bringing the Freedom Caucus on board, the week came and went without a vote.

By Saturday afternoon, our dear friend the “senior administration official” was back at it:

House leaders also upped their own expectations over the weekend, Politico reported, saying they were “very close” to reaching 216 votes. But it isn’t good enough for the White House to be on the same page as House leaders for once, expressing guarded optimism. Gary Cohn, director of the president’s National Economic Council, had to ratchet it up a notch, telling CBS This Morning on Monday that Republicans already had the votes. ”Do we have the votes for health care? I think we do,” Cohn said.

“We’re going to get health care down to the floor of the House,” he continued. “We’re convinced we’ve got the votes and we’re going to keep moving on with our agenda.”

A senior House Republican aide told me Monday morning after Cohn’s remarks were reported that, no, they do not, in fact, have the votes yet. “I have no schedule update,” the aide said. “We’ll schedule a vote when we have the needed 216 votes.”

As Rep. Tom MacArthur said last week, you’ll know they have the votes when they’re actually voting on the bill. At this point, any administration commentary on whip counts should be disregarded.