Copyright The New York Times
President Trump took a new line toward ending the government shutdown this weekend, attacking the Affordable Care Act tax credits that Democrats are demanding be extended and calling instead for the subsidies to go directly to consumers. Through social media posts, the president renewed his attacks on the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, which he has spent years assailing and promising to replace, but to no avail. Mr. Trump suggested that premiums for consumers and share prices for insurers had risen too much in the 15 years since the law passed, and he was ready to work on a solution — if Democrats reopened the government first. “I stand ready to work with both Parties to solve this problem once the Government is open,” he wrote on Sunday. Mr. Trump has insisted for more than a month that Democrats sign on to a Republican measure to reopen the government, without the concessions they have sought on health programs, including the subsidies. On Friday, Democrats substantially scaled back their demands, saying they would be willing to reopen the government in exchange for a one-year extension, but Republicans quickly rejected the offer. Mr. Trump has pitched various ideas for ending the standoff, including pushing Senate Republicans to end the filibuster, which would allow them to pass their funding measure with a simple majority. But Republicans fear such a move would come back to haunt them if Democrats were to regain the majority. On Saturday, Mr. Trump said that he would recommend to Senate Republicans that funds being sent to “money sucking Insurance Companies” instead go to the people, so they can “PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE.” On Sunday, he attacked Obamacare and Democrats, who he said were looking to enrich “their best friends” in insurance companies. The country, he wrote, was “being terrorized by Democrats who have decided to shut the Government down to make me and other Republicans continue ObamaCare subsidies, which have been a windfall for Health Insurance Companies, and a DISASTER for the American People.” But Mr. Trump offered no details about what such a plan could look like, how it could save money for consumers, or how funds sent to Americans for health care costs would not end up going to insurance companies, anyway. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview on Sunday with ABC’s “This Week” that there had been no formal proposal to the Senate. Even so, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, quickly endorsed the notion, calling it “simply brilliant.”
