Trump Republicans health insurance

President Donald Trump has proposed a compromise on health insurance payments, urging Republicans to send federal payments that would go to insurers under the Affordable Care Act directly to Americans to end the government shutdown.

“I advise Senate Republicans to SEND DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money-sucking Insurance Companies to get rid of the poor healthcare provided by ObamaCare, so they can BUY THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER HEALTH CARE and have the money left over,” he wrote on Truth Social. to mail on Saturday, without providing any details.

The post comes a day after Senate Republicans rejected Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s deal that would allow the U.S. government to reopen after the shutdown that began Oct. 1. The shutdown is now the longest in U.S. history.

The plan put forward by Democrats on Friday proposed preserving federal ACA subsidies for at least a year in exchange for dropping their demands that a longer-term extension of Obamacare tax credits be included in a temporary government funding bill.

These subsidies, used by more than 20 million Americans, will expire at the end of December unless Congress extends them.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Friday called the Democrats’ proposal a “non-starter.”

The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment or details on how Trump’s proposed direct payment plan would work.

Representatives for Senators Schumer and Thune did not immediately respond to a request for comment. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. and House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D.C. offices did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congressional lawmakers are at an impasse and have been unable to find a compromise to end the shutdown. Democrats want a funding bill that includes health care subsidies for 24 million Americans that would expire at the end of the year. Republicans, meanwhile, say Congress should first pass a funding bill without conditions and allow the government to reopen before tackling other issues.

In the same post, Trump reiterated his call for an end to the filibuster, the rule that requires 60 of 100 members of the Senate to pass most legislation. The GOP has 53 seats in the Senate. There are 45 Democratic senators and two independents who caucus with them.

Senate Republicans withdrew changing the rule this week, saying they would not support a change as Trump called on his party to pursue what he called the “Nuclear Option” on the rule.