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US senators are meeting during the weekend for the initial time since the federal closure began more than a month ago, but hopes for a cross-party deal on how to end the standoff appeared to recede as GOP senators proposed a proposal toxic to Democrats: scrapping the ACA, called Obamacare.

Growing Consequences of Federal Closure

The effect on US citizens from the longest closure of the federal government in history deepened 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 Golf Course

As Saturday's meeting got started, Republican senators embraced a suggestion made on online platforms 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 profit-driven 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.

GOP Support

Multiple Republican senators praised the proposal, which is similar to a alternative for Obamacare proposed in 2017.

"We're going to replace this failing program 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 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 response 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 health care they want."

Opposition Response

Opposition senators expressed alarmed responses to Trump's plan.

"In other words, Donald Trump's 'proposal' for health care is yet another cynical attempt to eliminate Obamacare," one Democratic senator stated. "It's the same unsuccessful Republican plan that's been rejected by the public and Congress."

Another senator responded to the criticism of insurance companies by posting: "Well, Trump and the Republicans can't stand how the large insurance companies are overcharging Americans. Really? Then I welcome your support for Medicare for All."

Continuing Negotiations

The Senate went into recess without finding a resolution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an openness to an emerging proposal from a handful of moderate Democrats to terminate the shutdown in return for a future vote on the Obamacare subsidies.

One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the negotiations among centrists, said that Democrats "require another way ahead" after Republicans turned down an proposal to restart the government and extend the subsidies for a year.

Another leading Democratic senator continued in maintaining that Republicans should accept a one-year extension of the subsidies before discussing the long-term of the subsidies.

"Doing nothing is derelict because people will go into debt, people will become uninsured, people will get sicker," the senator said in a Senate address. "That is what will happen if this Congress does nothing."

Political Dynamics

Not one 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 backing of several Democrats to restart the government, and the concept of eliminating and substituting Obamacare with savings accounts is unlikely to earn a solitary Democratic vote.

Some analysts suggested that the core of such a proposal would remove the ACA's requirement that insurance companies cover patients 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 compromise and try instead to repeal and overhaul Obamacare with a iteration of the plan that failed to garner enough support in 2017.