Trump offers more insight into proposal that directs subsidies directly to the American people to pay for health care rather than sending funds insurance companies.
Trump offers more insight into proposal that directs subsidies directly to the American people to pay for health care rather than sending funds insurance companies.
The president is proposing Obamacare subsidies go directly to Americans.
President Donald Trump on Sunday offered a bit more insight into his proposal that Obamacare subsidies should go directly to Americans’ Health Savings Accounts to pay for health care rather than sening funds to insurance companies through the Affordable Care Act.
Meanwhile, the Senate could vote Sunday night on a test vote that would fund the government through Jan. 31 and end the 40-day government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. Enough Democrats are expected to vote to pass the bill, sources told ABC News.
And the Department of Agriculture in a late Saturday night memo ordered states to reverse any steps they’ve taken to issue SNAP benefits and threatened to impose financial penalties on states that do not “comply” quickly.
Key Headlines
Here’s how the news is developing.
5:11 PM EST
Enough Democrats are expected to vote to move funding bill forward: Sources
The Senate is expected to vote Sunday evening on whether to begin debate on a short-term funding bill that would reopen the government.
Multiple Senate sources told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl that the bill would extend funding to Jan. 31 as well as fund SNAP and Veterans Affairs for the remainder of the fiscal year.
A senior Democratic senator told Karl there will be more than enough Democratic votes to pass the bill, although a majority of Democrats, including most of the leadership, will likely vote against it.
Democrats won’t get anything on the extension of Obamacare subsidies that they have been holding out for beyond a promise that the Senate will vote on extending them before the end of the year — essentially what Senate Majority Leader John Thune offered more than a month ago and Democrats objected to.
Although most Senate Democrats are likely to oppose this bill, they are resigned to the fact that this part of the fight is over. They will take the battle over health care to the midterms and argue that Republicans refused to do anything for the millions of Americans who will see their health insurance premiums skyrocket.
3:52 PM EST
Test vote in Senate could show if there’s momentum toward ending shutdown
The Senate is angling to take a key test vote as early as Sunday night on a plan to reopen the government. Nothing is yet set in stone, but it seems the Senate is gearing up for a possible breakthrough on the 40th day of the shutdown.
The vote would be a big test to gauge whether lawmakers are ready to move forward with the current plan. The Senate is expected to vote on whether or not to begin debate on a short-term funding bill that would reopen the government. If enough Democrats vote on the bill, it’d be a sign that things are moving forward.
There is a growing sense of momentum that at least the number of Democrats needed to advance the bill are ready to vote for it.
At least 60 votes are needed to move the bill forward. In past votes, Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican to vote against the bill, and Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto and John Fetterman and independent Angus King have voted for it. At least five more Democrats would have to vote in favor of the bill to advance it.
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
3:30 PM EST
White House tells court states are ‘unauthorized’ to issue SNAP benefits
In a letter filed Sunday, the Trump administration told a federal appeals court that states were “unauthorized” to issue full SNAP benefits.
As of Friday, at least five states said they already began issuing benefits, and another five said they began the process of issuing full payments after the USDA signaled than it would begin sending funds.
A lawyer for the DOJ argued that those states are “responsible for the consequences of that action.”
“To the extent that States decided to submit their files early — knowing that Defendants had appealed the Court’s injunction and intended to seek a stay, and in the face of direction to the contrary — they are responsible for the consequences of that action.”
In a late night published Saturday, the The Trump administration demanded that any states working to provide full food stamp benefits via SNAP stop any steps they were taking to do so.
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous
12:24 PM EST
Trump says health care payments would go to Health Savings Accounts
Trump offered a bit more insight into his proposal that direct subsidies should go directly to the American people to pay for health care rather than having funds sent to insurance companies through the ACA.
Trump said Republicans should give money to Americans through their Health Savings Account — special savings accounts which saw expanded access through Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” passed over the summer.
Expanded access to people who have certain ACA health plans, specifically Bronze and Catastrophic tier plans, was provided through the OBBB.
“Republicans should give money DIRECTLY to your personal HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS that I expanded in our GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL,” Trump said on his social media platform on Sunday morning.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
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