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American senators are working through the weekend for the initial time since the government shutdown began over a month ago, but expectations for a cross-party deal on how to resolve the impasse appeared to diminish as Republican senators proposed a plan unacceptable to Democrats: eliminating the Affordable Care Act, called Obamacare.

Growing Impact of Federal Closure

The impact on US citizens from the longest closure of the US government in history worsened on Saturday, as government employees went unpaid, airlines were forced to cancel flights and SNAP benefits have been postponed for 42 million Americans.

Trump's Proposal from Golf Course

As Saturday's meeting got under way, GOP senators welcomed a suggestion made on social media early Saturday by Donald Trump from his resort in West Palm Beach, for subsidies to be substituted by health savings accounts.

"I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking 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 wrote.

Republican Endorsement

Several Republican senators welcomed the proposal, which is comparable with a replacement for Obamacare put forward in 2017.

"We're going to replace this broken system with something that is actually better for the patient," one senator said.

Another senator praised Trump's proposal on online platforms, and displayed a giant blow-up of Trump's post as he spoke on the Senate floor.

"I am drafting the bill right now," a third senator wrote in reply to Trump's suggestion. "We need to stop taxpayer money 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 Response

Opposition lawmakers shared concerned responses to Trump's proposal.

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

Another lawmaker reacted to the censure of insurance companies by posting: "Oh, Trump and the Republicans dislike how the big, bad insurance companies are ripping-off Americans. Really? In that case I applaud your support for universal healthcare."

Continuing Negotiations

The Senate went into recess without reaching a solution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an openness to an emerging plan from a handful of moderate Democrats to end the closure in exchange for a future vote on the ACA payments.

One Democratic senator, who is spearheading the talks among centrists, said that Democrats "need another path forward" after Republicans rejected an offer to restart the government and extend the payments for a year.

Another senior Democratic lawmaker persisted in arguing that Republicans should accept a 12-month continuation of the payments before discussing the future of the subsidies.

"Inaction is derelict because citizens will go into debt, people will lose insurance, people will get more ill," the senator said in a Senate address. "That is what will happen if this Congress does nothing."

Partisan Situation

None of the Republican senators seemed to address the fact that patients 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 HSAs is unlikely 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 golf outing, Trump went back to his private club and doubled down on his demand that Republicans stop seeking compromise and try instead to repeal and overhaul Obamacare with a iteration of the plan that failed to secure enough support in 2017.