American senators are meeting during the weekend for the initial time since the government shutdown began more than a month ago, but expectations for a cross-party deal on how to resolve the impasse appeared to diminish as Republican senators floated a plan unacceptable to Democrats: scrapping the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
Growing Consequences of Government Shutdown
The effect on Americans from the longest shutdown of the US government in history deepened on Saturday, as government employees went without pay, carriers were forced to cancel flights and SNAP benefits have been delayed for 42 million Americans.
President's Plan from Florida Resort
As weekend session got under way, GOP senators embraced a suggestion made on social media early Saturday by Donald Trump from his resort in West Palm Beach, for government payments 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 wrote.
Republican Support
Several Republican senators welcomed the proposal, which is comparable with 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 stated.
Another senator praised Trump's suggestion on online platforms, and stood next to 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 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 medical coverage they want."
Opposition Reaction
Opposition senators expressed alarmed reactions to Trump's plan.
"In other words, Donald Trump's 'concept of a plan' for health care is yet another calculated attempt to eliminate Obamacare," one Democratic senator commented. "This is the same failed Republican plan that's been rejected by voters and Congress."
Another lawmaker responded to the criticism of insurance companies by writing: "Well, Trump and the Republicans dislike how the large insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Seriously? In that case I welcome your support for universal healthcare."
Continuing Talks
The Senate went into recess without reaching a solution, but Senate Republican leaders have indicated an openness to an developing proposal from a small group of centrist lawmakers to end the closure in return for a later vote on the ACA payments.
One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the talks among centrists, said that Democrats "need another way ahead" after Republicans turned down an proposal to restart the government and continue the payments for a year.
Another leading Democratic lawmaker continued in maintaining that Republicans should accept a one-year extension of the subsidies before negotiating the future of the subsidies.
"Doing nothing is derelict because citizens will go bankrupt, people will lose insurance, people will get sicker," the senator said in a floor speech. "That's what will happen if this Congress does nothing."
Political 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 lawmakers need the backing of eight Democrats to restart the government, and the concept of repealing and substituting Obamacare with savings accounts is improbable to earn a single Democratic vote.
Several observers indicated that the essence of such a plan would remove the ACA's requirement that carriers cover individuals with pre-existing conditions.
After his resort visit, Trump returned to his private club and reiterated on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking compromise and try instead to repeal and overhaul Obamacare with a iteration of the proposal that failed to secure enough backing in 2017.
