US senators 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 resolve the impasse appeared to recede as Republican senators floated a proposal toxic to Democrats: scrapping the ACA, called Obamacare.
Growing Consequences of Government Shutdown
The effect on US citizens from the lengthiest shutdown of the federal government in history worsened on Saturday, as government employees went unpaid, carriers were compelled to cancel flights and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits have been postponed for forty-two million Americans.
Trump's Plan from Florida Resort
As Saturday's session got started, Republican senators welcomed a proposal made on online platforms early Saturday by Donald Trump from his golf course in West Palm Beach, for subsidies to be replaced 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 ineffective Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE," Trump posted.
Republican Support
Several Republican senators welcomed the plan, which is similar to a alternative for Obamacare put forward in 2017.
"We will replace this broken system with something that is actually better for the patient," one senator stated.
Another senator commended Trump's proposal 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 wrote in reply to Trump's proposal. "We must stop taxpayer money from going to insurance companies and instead give it directly to Americans in health savings accounts and let them buy the medical coverage they want."
Democratic Response
Opposition lawmakers shared alarmed responses to Trump's plan.
"Essentially, Donald Trump's 'concept of a plan' for health care is another calculated attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator commented. "It's the same unsuccessful Republican plan that's been rejected by the public and Congress."
Another lawmaker reacted to the criticism of insurance companies by posting: "Oh, Trump and the Republicans dislike how the big, bad insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Seriously? Then I applaud your support for universal healthcare."
Ongoing Talks
The Senate went into recess without reaching a solution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an willingness to an emerging proposal from a handful of centrist lawmakers to end the closure in exchange for a future vote on the ACA subsidies.
One Democratic senator, who is leading the talks among centrists, said that Democrats "require another way ahead" after Republicans turned down an proposal to reopen 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 negotiating the future of the subsidies.
"Doing nothing is derelict because people will go into debt, people will lose insurance, people will get sicker," the senator stated in a floor speech. "That's what will happen if this Congress does nothing."
Political Situation
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 lawmakers need the support of eight Democrats to restart the government, and the idea of eliminating and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is improbable to earn a single Democratic vote.
Several analysts indicated that the essence 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 repeal and overhaul Obamacare with a version of the proposal that failed to garner enough support in 2017.
