number of republicans moderate republicans. we have our team of correspondents and analysts still waiting by with us. if kelly o donnell is still over in the capitol, kelly, i would like to start with you. we have it at 34. sean spicer was saying they believe they re adding more and more people to this bill for a yes. to our count, it looks like they re losing folks. reporter: it certainly seems that in terms of mood and energy, that it is not looking favorable. i would also tell you i m told myself president mike pence has not come to his capitol hill office and has returned to the white house. if there were a winning vote just a couple of hours away, arguably he could be here on capitol hill to shake hands and say thank yous. going back to the white house could open up additional negotiation or strategy, but he was really only a block from capitol hill at the capitol hill club, which is off-campus, meeting with the freedom caucus, the most conservative group, and
behind the scenes as well. so i think that they re bracing for what could be a loss, but again, administration officials insisting that the president remains determined and that the thinking is, forcing a vote will force the hands of all of those undecided and republicans who are leaning towards no, that forcing them to publicly vote will ultimately ramp up the pressure so much that they will flip. we ll have to see if that calculation actually works, and of course sean spicer will get a lot of questions about that strategy when he comes in just a few moments from now. any indication sean spicer is coming out or are they delaying it because of paul ryan? reporter: we have not gotten indication the brief something delayed. not unusual for him to be a few minutes late. if we get that guidance we ll update you. kristen, talk to me about optics, there was a debate ongoing, tons of activity on capitol hill with freedom caucus members saying they were saying no, they had a meeting with
the team here have left everything on the field. we have called every member that had a question or a concern, tried to the extent possible to take into considerations ideas that would strengthen the bill, and is now going to be up to the members of the house to decide whether or not they want to follow through on the promise of that. but we re going to continue to work with the speaker, and the leadership there, to see where the votes are. we re getting closer and closer, but you need to get to 216, and you know, they ve started four hours of debate. i expect a vote around the 3:30, 4:00 hour. let s see where we go. hunter? thank you, sean. we re hearing that paul ryan and mitch mcconnell wanted to do a clean repeal and then replace over time. in retrospect, would that have been a better approach, and in general, do you think paul ryan has handled this well? i don t know in that s entirely the case. this was a joint effort. this is something that the house
might apply? i discussed this earlier. i m not going to get into lessons learned while we re in the middle of debate of a current bill. we ll have plenty of time if if you want to stop by over the weekend, we can talk about, i ll be glad to sit down with you on that but again, we re not, right now we re focused on getting the votes. the house has a vote scheduled, that s what our focus is, not to figure out, we will avery plenty of time for that. reporter: is the president going to wash his hands of this today? you guys, look, we re not the president is going to wash his hands several times but i don t know [ laughter ] reporter: the central campaign promise to the president of the united states i understand that. i get it, so slow down, let s turn on c-span and all watch this together and discuss what happened. jen? reporter: treasury secretary mnuchin was talking this morning about doing tax reform by the august recess. um-hum. reporter: do you think that s a re
talk no action politicians to come together and cut deals and negotiate deals. this would be a massive failure for him, if he can t get this done. kristen welker, you re still in that briefing room and we re waiting for sean spicer to come out, but to foreshadow what he might be talking about, what is the mood in the white house right now? do they have a sense this bill is going to happen or already laying the ground work to blame republicans? reporter: well they re certainly not showing their hands. that s for sure, katy. you can feel the anticipation. this is obviously very tense hours leading up to what they expect will be a vote on this health care bill, but what s interesting is, to some extent, they are starting to shift the narrative here, earlier today obviously the president announcing that the keystone xl controversial pipe lane was officially approved and construction would begin on it and then of course talking about the potential for moving on to tax reform. you have d