Sean Spicer also continued to publicly support House Speaker Paul Ryan's handling of the vote. | AP Photo Spicer: 'The agenda moves on'

White House press secretary Sean Spicer expressed optimism Friday that President Donald Trump would still be able to enact his "ambitious plan" for the country going forward, despite Republicans failing to deliver on their long-promised bid to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act just hours prior.

Spicer said that although he and the president were "disappointed" by the outcome of the canceled congressional vote on the American Health Care Act, the administration was moving ahead with plans to reform the tax system.


"He has a desire to do fundamental tax reform, something we haven't seen since 1986," Spicer told Fox News' Martha MacCallum. "The agenda moves on. "

The White House press secretary also echoed Trump's public response to the legislative loss earlier Friday, saying that he felt the topic of health care would be broached again once former President Barack Obama's signature health care law "collapsed."

"Democrats will crawl back once the system fails on its own," he said. "The people that stood with Nancy Pelosi today understand the system is going down and the higher costs are on their shoulders, not ours."

Spicer also continued to publicly support House Speaker Paul Ryan's handling of the vote.

"The president knows how hard Paul Ryan worked to get this going forward," he said.