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American senators are meeting during the weekend for the initial time since the federal closure began more than a month ago, but hopes for a bipartisan agreement on how to resolve the standoff appeared to recede as GOP senators floated a proposal unacceptable to Democrats: eliminating the Affordable Care Act, called Obamacare.

Deepening Consequences of Government Shutdown

The effect on Americans from the longest closure of the US government in history worsened on Saturday, as federal workers went unpaid, carriers were forced to ground planes and SNAP benefits have been postponed for forty-two million Americans.

Trump's Plan from Florida Resort

As weekend meeting 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 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 posted.

Republican Endorsement

Multiple Republican senators welcomed the plan, which is comparable with a alternative for Obamacare proposed in 2017.

"We will replace this failing program with something that is actually better for the consumer," one senator stated.

Another senator praised Trump's suggestion on social media, and displayed a large print of Trump's post as he spoke on the Senate floor.

"I am drafting the bill right now," a third senator posted in reply to Trump's suggestion. "We must stop public funds from going to carriers and instead give it straight to Americans in health savings accounts and let them buy the medical coverage they want."

Democratic Reaction

Opposition senators shared alarmed responses to Trump's proposal.

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

Another senator responded to the criticism of insurance companies by writing: "Oh, Trump and the Republicans can't stand how the large insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Seriously? In that case I applaud your support for universal healthcare."

Continuing Negotiations

The Senate went into recess without finding a solution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an willingness to an developing proposal from a handful of centrist lawmakers to terminate the closure in return for a future vote on the Obamacare payments.

One Democratic senator, who is leading the talks among centrists, said that Democrats "require another path forward" after Republicans rejected an proposal 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 payments before negotiating the long-term of the tax credits.

"Doing nothing is irresponsible because citizens will go bankrupt, people will lose insurance, people will get sicker," the senator stated in a Senate address. "That's what will happen if this Congress fails to act."

Partisan Situation

Not one of the Republican senators seemed to grapple with the fact that consumers would still need to buy plans from the same carriers, or that Republican lawmakers need the backing of several Democrats to restart the government, and the idea of repealing and replacing Obamacare with savings accounts is unlikely to earn a single Democratic vote.

Several analysts suggested that the essence of such a plan would remove the ACA's requirement that carriers cover patients with existing health issues.

After his resort visit, Trump returned to his private club and doubled down on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking agreement and try instead to repeal and replace Obamacare with a iteration of the proposal that failed to secure enough backing in 2017.