President Trump on Saturday took a swipe at Democrats and health insurance companies as lawmakers struggle to find consensus on a bill to reopen the government.
Trump, weighing in on the debate around high health care premiums as Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits are poised to expire soon, suggested that funds be diverted from insurance companies and paid directly to consumers.
“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, and have money left over,” Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social.
“In other words, take from the BIG, BAD Insurance Companies, give it to the people, and terminate, per Dollar spent, the worst Healthcare anywhere in the World, ObamaCare,” he continued, while reupping his push for the GOP to “terminate” filibuster rules.
“The Democrats are winning in that they are destroying our great, miracle economy, which is exactly what they set out to do. TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!” the president wrote Saturday in a separate post on Truth Social.
He has also blamed GOP losses in Tuesday’s elections on Republican leadership’s unwillingness to nix the filibuster.
“The Democrats will do this, so if the Democrats are going to do it, I’m saying Republicans should do it before they get a chance,” Trump told reporters on Friday, referring to the rule. “If we do it, we will never lose the midterms, and we will never lose a general election, because we will have produced so many different things for our people, for the country, that it would be impossible to lose an election.”
Open enrollment for ACA plans began earlier this month without the subsidies that made health insurance more affordable for many lower-income families. Republicans have cast blame on the current system, signed into law by former President Obama in 2010, for the shortfalls and floated plans to develop a new health plan.
Lawmakers in the upper chamber have failed 14 times to push the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) to the finish line as Democrats press their GOP colleagues to address the expiring health subsidies. Under the filibuster rule, the Senate requires 60 votes to pass legislation.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) offered a plan on Friday to end the shutdown after intense talks among Democrats. The proposed measure is headlined by a one-year extension of enhanced ACA tax credits, a short-term CR and the attachment of a three-bill minibus of full-year spending bills that were a part of previous bipartisan talks.
“Democrats have said we must address the health care crisis, but Republicans have repeatedly said they won’t negotiate to lower the health care costs until the government reopens,” Schumer said. “So, let’s find a path to honor both positions.”
Republicans almost immediately pushed back on the offer.
Lack of movement on both sides led Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to keep lawmakers in Washington over the weekend. Though, he said it is unclear what the chamber will vote on.
Thune is also eyeing an extended CR that could push the funding deadline to January.
