US senators are meeting during the weekend for the initial time since the federal closure began over a month ago, but expectations for a bipartisan agreement on how to end the standoff appeared to recede as GOP senators proposed a proposal unacceptable to Democrats: scrapping the ACA, called Obamacare.
Deepening Impact of Government Shutdown
The effect on US citizens from the lengthiest shutdown of the federal government in history worsened on Saturday, as government employees went without pay, airlines were forced to ground planes and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits have been postponed for 42 million Americans.
Trump's Plan from Golf Course
As weekend session got under way, Republican senators embraced a proposal made on social media early Saturday by Donald Trump from his resort in West Palm Beach, for subsidies to be substituted by HSA-style accounts.
"I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE," Trump posted.
GOP Endorsement
Multiple Republican senators praised the plan, which is comparable with a replacement for Obamacare proposed in 2017.
"We're going to replace this broken system with something that is truly better for the consumer," one senator said.
Another senator praised Trump's proposal on online platforms, 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 wrote in reply to Trump's suggestion. "We need to stop public funds from going to insurance companies and instead give it straight to Americans in health savings accounts and let them buy the health care they want."
Opposition Response
Opposition lawmakers shared concerned responses to Trump's plan.
"Essentially, Donald Trump's 'concept of a plan' for health care is another calculated attempt to eliminate Obamacare," one Democratic senator stated. "This is the same unsuccessful Republican plan that's been rejected by the public and Congress."
Another senator responded to the criticism of carriers by writing: "Oh, Trump and the Republicans dislike how the big, bad insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Seriously? Then I applaud your support for Medicare for All."
Ongoing Talks
The Senate adjourned without finding a resolution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an willingness to an developing proposal from a handful of centrist lawmakers to terminate the shutdown in return for a future vote on the ACA payments.
One Democratic senator, who is leading the negotiations among centrists, said that Democrats "require another path forward" after Republicans rejected an proposal to reopen the government and extend the subsidies for a year.
Another senior Democratic senator persisted in maintaining that Republicans should accept a 12-month continuation of the subsidies before negotiating the future of the tax credits.
"Doing nothing is derelict because citizens will go into debt, people will lose insurance, people will get more ill," the senator said in a Senate address. "That is what will happen if this Congress fails to act."
Partisan Dynamics
Not one of the Republican senators seemed to address the fact that patients would still need to buy coverage from the same carriers, or that Republican legislators need the backing of eight Democrats to reopen the government, and the idea of repealing and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is unlikely to earn a solitary Democratic vote.
Several observers indicated that the core of such a plan would remove the ACA's mandate that carriers cover individuals with pre-existing conditions.
After his golf outing, Trump went back to his residence and doubled down on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking agreement and try instead to repeal and overhaul Obamacare with a iteration of the plan that failed to secure enough support in 2017.
