American senators are working through the weekend for the initial 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 ACA, called Obamacare.
Deepening Impact of Federal Closure
The impact on Americans from the lengthiest closure of the federal government in history worsened on Saturday, as federal workers went unpaid, airlines were compelled to cancel flights and SNAP benefits have been delayed for forty-two million Americans.
Trump's Plan from Florida Resort
As weekend session got under way, Republican senators embraced a suggestion made on online platforms early Saturday by Donald Trump from his resort in West Palm Beach, for subsidies to be replaced by HSA-style accounts.
"I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of 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 wrote.
Republican Support
Multiple Republican senators welcomed the plan, which is comparable with a alternative for Obamacare proposed in 2017.
"We're going to replace this failing program with something that is actually better for the consumer," one senator stated.
Another senator commended Trump's suggestion 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 wrote in reply to Trump's suggestion. "We need to stop taxpayer money from going to carriers and instead give it directly to Americans in health savings accounts and let them buy the medical coverage they want."
Democratic Response
Opposition senators expressed alarmed reactions to Trump's plan.
"Essentially, Donald Trump's 'concept of a plan' for health care is yet another calculated attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator commented. "This is the same failed Republican plan that's been defeated by the public and Congress."
Another lawmaker responded to the criticism of insurance companies by posting: "Well, Trump and the Republicans dislike how the large insurance companies are overcharging Americans. Seriously? Then I applaud your support for universal healthcare."
Continuing Talks
The Senate adjourned without finding a solution, but Senate Republican leaders have indicated an openness to an emerging proposal from a handful of centrist lawmakers to end the closure in exchange for a future vote on the ACA payments.
One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the negotiations among moderates, said that Democrats "require another path forward" after Republicans turned down an proposal to restart the government and extend the payments for a year.
Another senior Democratic senator persisted in maintaining that Republicans should accept a one-year extension of the payments before discussing the future of the subsidies.
"Inaction is irresponsible because people will go into debt, people will become uninsured, people will get sicker," the senator stated in a floor speech. "That's what will happen if this Congress does nothing."
Partisan Situation
None of the Republican senators seemed to address the fact that consumers would still need to buy plans from the same carriers, or that Republican legislators need the support of eight Democrats to reopen the government, and the concept of eliminating and substituting Obamacare with savings accounts is unlikely to earn a solitary Democratic vote.
Several observers suggested that the essence of such a proposal would remove the ACA's mandate that carriers cover patients with existing health issues.
After his resort visit, Trump returned to his private club and reiterated on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking compromise and try instead to eliminate and overhaul Obamacare with a version of the proposal that failed to garner enough support in 2017.
