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American lawmakers are working through the weekend for the initial time since the government shutdown began over a month ago, but hopes for a cross-party deal on how to resolve the standoff appeared to diminish as Republican senators proposed a proposal toxic to Democrats: scrapping the Affordable Care Act, called Obamacare.

Growing Consequences of Government Shutdown

The impact on US citizens from the longest closure of the US government in history deepened on Saturday, as government employees went without pay, airlines were forced to ground planes and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits have been postponed for 42 million Americans.

Trump's Proposal from Golf Course

As weekend meeting got under way, GOP senators embraced a proposal made on online platforms early Saturday by Donald Trump from his golf course in West Palm Beach, for subsidies to be substituted 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 Endorsement

Multiple Republican senators praised the proposal, which is comparable with a replacement for Obamacare proposed in 2017.

"We will replace this broken system with something that is truly better for the consumer," one senator said.

Another senator praised Trump's proposal on online platforms, and stood next to a large print of Trump's post as he spoke 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 carriers and instead give it directly to Americans in health savings accounts and let them buy the medical coverage they want."

Democratic Response

Opposition lawmakers expressed alarmed responses to Trump's plan.

"Essentially, Donald Trump's 'proposal' for health care is another cynical attempt to repeal Obamacare," one Democratic senator stated. "This is the same unsuccessful Republican plan that's been defeated by voters and Congress."

Another senator reacted 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 reaching a resolution, but Senate Republican leaders have signaled an willingness to an emerging proposal from a small group of centrist lawmakers to end the shutdown in return for a future vote on the ACA payments.

One Democratic senator, who is leading the negotiations among moderates, said that Democrats "require another way ahead" after Republicans turned down an offer to restart the government and continue the payments for a year.

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

"Inaction is derelict because people will go bankrupt, people will become uninsured, people will get more ill," the senator stated in a Senate address. "That's what will happen if this Congress does nothing."

Partisan Dynamics

None of the Republican senators seemed to address the fact that patients would still need to buy coverage from the same insurance companies, or that Republican legislators need the backing of eight Democrats to reopen the government, and the idea of repealing and replacing Obamacare with HSAs is improbable to earn a solitary Democratic vote.

Some analysts suggested that the essence of such a proposal would remove the ACA's requirement that carriers cover individuals with pre-existing conditions.

After his resort visit, Trump went back to his residence and doubled down on his insistence that Republicans stop seeking agreement and try instead to eliminate and replace Obamacare with a iteration of the proposal that was unsuccessful to garner enough backing in 2017.