American lawmakers are meeting during the weekend for the first time since the federal closure began more than a month ago, but expectations for a bipartisan agreement on how to resolve the standoff appeared to recede as GOP senators floated a proposal toxic to Democrats: scrapping the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
Growing Impact of Federal Closure
The impact on Americans from the lengthiest shutdown of the federal government in history deepened on Saturday, as federal workers went unpaid, carriers were forced to cancel flights and SNAP benefits have been delayed for forty-two million Americans.
President's Plan from Florida Resort
As Saturday's session got started, Republican senators welcomed a suggestion made on social media early Saturday by Donald Trump from his resort in West Palm Beach, for subsidies to be substituted by health savings accounts.
"My recommendation is to Senate Republicans that the Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the ineffective Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE," Trump wrote.
Republican Endorsement
Multiple Republican senators praised the plan, which is comparable with a replacement for Obamacare proposed in 2017.
"We will replace this broken system with something that is actually better for the consumer," one senator stated.
Another senator praised Trump's proposal on social media, and displayed a giant blow-up of Trump's post as he addressed on the Senate floor.
"I'm writing the bill right now," a third senator posted in reply to Trump's suggestion. "We need to stop taxpayer money from going to insurance companies and instead give it straight to Americans in HSA-style accounts and let them buy the medical coverage they want."
Democratic Reaction
Democratic lawmakers shared concerned responses to Trump's proposal.
"Essentially, Donald Trump's 'proposal' for health care is yet another calculated attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator stated. "This is the same failed Republican plan that's been defeated by the public and Congress."
Another senator reacted to the censure of insurance companies by writing: "Oh, Trump and the Republicans can't stand how the large insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Seriously? In that case I applaud your support for universal healthcare."
Continuing Talks
The Senate went into recess without reaching a solution, but Senate Republican leaders have indicated an openness to an emerging proposal from a handful of moderate Democrats to end the shutdown in return for a future vote on the ACA subsidies.
One Democratic senator, who is leading the negotiations among moderates, said that Democrats "need another path forward" after Republicans turned down an offer to restart the government and continue the subsidies for a year.
Another senior Democratic lawmaker continued in arguing that Republicans should agree to a 12-month continuation of the payments before negotiating the future of the subsidies.
"Doing nothing is derelict because citizens will go into debt, people will lose insurance, people will get sicker," the senator stated in a Senate address. "That's what will happen if this Congress fails to act."
Partisan Situation
None of the Republican senators seemed to address the fact that consumers would still need to buy coverage from the same carriers, or that Republican legislators need the support of eight Democrats to restart the government, and the concept of repealing and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is unlikely to earn a single Democratic vote.
Some analysts indicated that the core of such a plan would eliminate the ACA's requirement that insurance companies cover patients with pre-existing conditions.
After his resort visit, Trump went back to his residence and doubled down on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking compromise and try instead to eliminate and replace Obamacare with a iteration of the proposal that failed to secure enough support in 2017.
