American senators are meeting during the weekend for the first time since the federal closure began over a month ago, but expectations for a cross-party deal on how to resolve the impasse appeared to recede as Republican senators proposed a plan unacceptable to Democrats: scrapping the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
Growing Consequences of Federal Closure
The impact on Americans from the lengthiest shutdown of the federal government in history worsened on Saturday, as federal workers went unpaid, airlines were compelled to ground planes and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits have been postponed for 42 million Americans.
President's Plan from Florida Resort
As Saturday's session got under way, GOP senators welcomed a suggestion made on online platforms early Saturday by Donald Trump from his resort in West Palm Beach, for subsidies to be replaced 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 ineffective 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 plan, which is similar to a alternative for Obamacare put forward in 2017.
"We will replace this broken system with something that is truly better for the consumer," one senator said.
Another senator praised Trump's suggestion on online platforms, and displayed a giant blow-up of Trump's post as he spoke on the Senate floor.
"I'm writing the bill right now," a third senator wrote in response to Trump's suggestion. "We need to 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 concerned responses to Trump's plan.
"Essentially, Donald Trump's 'proposal' for health care is yet another calculated attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator commented. "It's the same failed Republican plan that's been rejected by the public and Congress."
Another senator reacted to the censure of insurance companies by writing: "Well, Trump and the Republicans dislike how the large insurance companies are overcharging Americans. Really? In that case I welcome your support for universal healthcare."
Ongoing Negotiations
The Senate went into recess without finding a solution, but Senate Republican leaders have indicated an willingness to an emerging proposal from a handful of moderate Democrats to terminate the closure in exchange for a later vote on the ACA 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 continue the payments for a year.
Another senior Democratic senator continued 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 sicker," the senator stated in a floor speech. "That is what will happen if this Congress does nothing."
Partisan Dynamics
None of the Republican senators seemed to grapple with the fact that consumers would still need to buy coverage from the same carriers, or that Republican legislators need the support of several Democrats to reopen the government, and the idea of repealing and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is unlikely to earn a single Democratic vote.
Some observers indicated that the core of such a plan would remove the ACA's requirement that carriers cover patients with pre-existing conditions.
After his golf outing, Trump went back to his residence and reiterated on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking agreement and try instead to eliminate and replace Obamacare with a version of the proposal that was unsuccessful to secure enough support in 2017.
