American lawmakers are meeting during the weekend for the initial time since the federal closure began over a month ago, but hopes for a bipartisan agreement on how to resolve the standoff appeared to diminish as GOP senators floated a plan toxic to Democrats: eliminating the ACA, known as Obamacare.
Growing Consequences of Federal Closure
The impact on Americans from the lengthiest shutdown of the US government in history deepened on Saturday, as government employees went unpaid, carriers were forced to ground planes and SNAP benefits have been postponed for 42 million Americans.
Trump's Plan from Florida Resort
As weekend meeting got started, GOP 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 health savings accounts.
"My recommendation is to Senate Republicans that the Billions of Dollars currently being sent to profit-driven 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.
Republican Support
Multiple Republican senators praised the proposal, which is similar to a replacement for Obamacare proposed in 2017.
"We're going to replace this broken system with something that is actually better for the consumer," one senator stated.
Another senator praised Trump's suggestion 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 posted in response to Trump's suggestion. "We must stop public funds from going to carriers and instead give it directly to Americans in health savings accounts and let them buy the health care they want."
Opposition Response
Democratic senators shared alarmed reactions to Trump's proposal.
"In other words, Donald Trump's 'proposal' for health care is another calculated attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator stated. "This is the same unsuccessful 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 dislike how the large insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Seriously? In that case I applaud your support for Medicare for All."
Continuing Negotiations
The Senate adjourned without reaching a solution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an openness to an emerging proposal from a small group of centrist lawmakers to terminate the closure in return for a later vote on the Obamacare subsidies.
One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the talks among moderates, said that Democrats "require another path forward" after Republicans rejected an offer to restart the government and continue the payments for a year.
Another senior Democratic senator continued in arguing that Republicans should accept a one-year extension of the subsidies before negotiating the future of the tax credits.
"Doing nothing is derelict because citizens will go bankrupt, 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 Dynamics
Not one of the Republican senators seemed to grapple with the fact that consumers would still need to buy coverage from the same insurance companies, or that Republican lawmakers need the backing of several Democrats to reopen the government, and the concept of repealing and replacing Obamacare with savings accounts is unlikely to earn a solitary Democratic vote.
Some analysts indicated that the core of such a proposal would remove the ACA's mandate that insurance companies cover individuals with pre-existing conditions.
After his golf outing, Trump went back to his private club and doubled down on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking agreement and try instead to eliminate and overhaul Obamacare with a version of the plan that failed to garner enough support in 2017.
