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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 cross-party deal on how to end the standoff appeared to diminish as Republican senators proposed a proposal toxic to Democrats: scrapping the ACA, called Obamacare.

Growing Impact of Federal Closure

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

President's Proposal from Florida Resort

As weekend meeting got started, Republican senators welcomed a suggestion made on online platforms 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 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 Endorsement

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

"We will replace this failing program with something that is actually better for the patient," 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 spoke on the Senate floor.

"I'm writing the bill right now," a third senator wrote in response to Trump's proposal. "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 health care they want."

Democratic Reaction

Opposition senators shared alarmed responses to Trump's proposal.

"Essentially, Donald Trump's 'concept of a plan' for health care is another cynical attempt to eliminate Obamacare," one Democratic senator commented. "This is the same unsuccessful Republican plan that's been defeated by the public and Congress."

Another lawmaker responded to the censure of carriers by writing: "Well, Trump and the Republicans can't stand how the big, bad insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Seriously? In that case I welcome your support for Medicare for All."

Continuing Talks

The Senate adjourned without reaching a solution, but Senate Republican leaders have indicated an openness to an developing plan from a small group of moderate Democrats to end the shutdown in return for a later vote on the ACA subsidies.

One Democratic senator, who is leading the talks among centrists, said that Democrats "need another way ahead" after Republicans rejected an proposal to restart the government and continue the payments for a year.

Another senior Democratic senator persisted in maintaining that Republicans should agree to a one-year extension of the subsidies before negotiating the future of the subsidies.

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

Partisan 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 support of several Democrats to restart the government, and the concept of eliminating and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is unlikely to earn a single Democratic vote.

Several analysts suggested that the core of such a proposal would eliminate the ACA's requirement that carriers cover patients with pre-existing conditions.

After his resort visit, Trump went back to his private club and reiterated on his demand that Republicans stop seeking agreement and try instead to repeal and overhaul Obamacare with a iteration of the plan that was unsuccessful to secure enough support in 2017.