American lawmakers are working through the weekend for the initial time since the government shutdown began over a month ago, but expectations for a cross-party deal on how to resolve the standoff appeared to recede as GOP senators proposed a plan unacceptable to Democrats: scrapping the Affordable Care Act, called Obamacare.
Growing Impact of Federal Closure
The impact on Americans from the longest shutdown of the federal government in history worsened on Saturday, as federal workers went without pay, carriers were compelled to ground planes and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits have been postponed for forty-two million Americans.
President's Plan from Florida Resort
As weekend meeting got started, 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 substituted by health savings 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.
GOP Support
Multiple Republican senators praised the proposal, which is comparable with a alternative for Obamacare proposed in 2017.
"We're going to replace this broken system with something that is actually better for the consumer," one senator said.
Another senator commended Trump's proposal on social media, and stood next to a large print 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 insurance companies and instead give it directly to Americans in HSA-style accounts and let them buy the health care they want."
Democratic Response
Democratic senators expressed concerned responses to Trump's proposal.
"Essentially, Donald Trump's 'concept of a plan' for health care is yet another cynical attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator stated. "It's the same unsuccessful Republican plan that's been defeated by voters and Congress."
Another senator responded to the censure of carriers 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 applaud your support for universal healthcare."
Continuing Negotiations
The Senate went into recess without finding a resolution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an willingness to an emerging proposal from a small group of centrist lawmakers to end the shutdown in exchange for a future vote on the Obamacare subsidies.
One Democratic senator, who is leading the negotiations among centrists, said that Democrats "need another path forward" after Republicans rejected an offer to reopen the government and extend the payments for a year.
Another leading Democratic senator persisted in maintaining that Republicans should agree to 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 more ill," the senator stated in a Senate address. "That's what will happen if this Congress does nothing."
Partisan Dynamics
Not one of the Republican senators seemed to address the fact that patients would still need to buy plans from the same insurance companies, or that Republican legislators need the support of eight Democrats to restart the government, and the idea of repealing and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is improbable to earn a single Democratic vote.
Some analysts suggested that the essence of such a proposal would eliminate the ACA's mandate that carriers 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 version of the plan that failed to garner enough backing in 2017.
