American lawmakers are meeting during 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 end the impasse appeared to diminish as GOP senators proposed a proposal toxic to Democrats: eliminating the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
Growing Consequences of Government Shutdown
The impact on Americans from the lengthiest shutdown of the federal government in history worsened on Saturday, as federal workers went unpaid, carriers were forced to ground planes and SNAP benefits have been postponed for forty-two million Americans.
Trump's Proposal from Florida Resort
As weekend session got under way, GOP senators welcomed a proposal made on social media 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 posted.
Republican Support
Multiple Republican senators praised the plan, which is similar to a replacement for Obamacare put forward in 2017.
"We will replace this broken system with something that is actually better for the consumer," one senator stated.
Another senator commended Trump's suggestion on social media, and stood next to a giant blow-up of Trump's post as he addressed on the Senate floor.
"I am drafting the bill right now," a third senator wrote in reply to Trump's suggestion. "We need to stop public funds from going to carriers and instead give it straight to Americans in health savings accounts and let them buy the health care they want."
Democratic Response
Democratic senators expressed concerned reactions to Trump's plan.
"Essentially, Donald Trump's 'concept of a plan' for health care is another cynical attempt to eliminate Obamacare," one Democratic senator stated. "It's the same failed Republican plan that's been rejected by the public and Congress."
Another lawmaker reacted to the censure of insurance companies by posting: "Well, Trump and the Republicans can't stand how the big, bad insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Really? In that case I welcome your support for Medicare for All."
Continuing Negotiations
The Senate went into recess without reaching a resolution, but Senate Republican leaders have indicated an willingness to an developing proposal from a small group of centrist lawmakers to end the shutdown 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 rejected an proposal to restart the government and continue the payments for a year.
Another senior Democratic lawmaker continued in arguing that Republicans should accept a one-year extension of the payments before discussing the future of the tax credits.
"Doing nothing is irresponsible because citizens will go bankrupt, people will become uninsured, people will get sicker," the senator said in a Senate address. "That is 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 plans from the same insurance companies, or that Republican lawmakers need the backing of eight Democrats to restart the government, and the idea of eliminating and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is unlikely to earn a solitary Democratic vote.
Some analysts indicated that the essence of such a plan would eliminate the ACA's requirement that insurance companies cover patients with pre-existing conditions.
After his golf outing, Trump went back to his residence and reiterated on his demand that Republicans stop seeking compromise and try instead to eliminate and replace Obamacare with a iteration of the proposal that was unsuccessful to garner enough support in 2017.
