Shutdown May Hurt Military Families
KOSIK: If the government shuts down at midnight on Monday, millions of people will be affected, and while the military will still be expected to report to duty, many troops may not get paid on time. Joining us now from Washington, Vivian Greentree, she's a Navy veteran and the director of research and policy with the Blue Star Families. Vivian, thanks for joining us. Tell me, what are you hearing from the military families with Blue Star? What are their biggest concerns?</s>VIVIAN GREENTREE, BLUE STAR FAMILIES: Well, we know from our research that financial health and readiness is a top concern for military families. We know that from our annual survey of military families so even the threat of the shutdown has caused added anxieties. And if it is to occur and military families don't get paid, we also know that a lot of military families live paycheck to paycheck, and are single- income families. The military spouse unemployment rate is 26 percent. So we are in a dire situation, if our military families aren't being paid.</s>KOSIK: Your husband is deployed overseas, so how is your family being impacted?</s>GREENTREE: Well, when we got to talk on Face Time this morning, this was a big conversation piece for us, moving some money around in the event that he didn't get paid, what we would do to pay our own bills, and I know that's something that we're hearing from our families across the country. How they're going to pay their mortgages, their car payments, buy groceries, buy diapers. It's a very important situation and one that our families have -- our military -- our service members that are deployed don't need to be thinking about. They need to be focused on their mission at hand and you don't want them wondering if they will get paid or having their spouses call them worried about their bank accounts.</s>KOSIK: Let me ask you this, how much do you really feel that maybe military families are kind of, you know, caught in the middle of this, as like a political football or a pawn going on between Republicans and Democrats. You know, how does this make you feel? They're playing these political games, but, you know, for you and countless other families, this is real life.</s>GREENTREE: It is real life. I think right now, in our community, on top of sequestration, on top of potential action in Syria, it's the general level of stress and anxiety and then to add to that, I think we've always considered our paychecks kind of sacrosanct. And to think that they might not be is a shock. I don't know that there's any one party or one person to blame. It's just a general shock that it could even potentially happen and for our organization to try to walk the line between not trying to -- trying not to play into any kind of hysteria, but also to provide resources and information to families that are desperate for information and resources, should this shutdown occur.</s>KOSIK: So is there, maybe one side that maybe you hold more responsible, the Republicans or the Democrats or maybe even the president?</s>GREENTREE: No, I think at this point, we are in the, how can we respond to this should it happen mode? We just want to know, financial institutions that might provide low or no interest loans to military families, should they not get paid. It's much more tactical at our level and we just want to get our service members paid.</s>KOSIK: If there's something you would say to Congress or maybe even the president, what would it be?</s>GREENTREE: Besides the immediate financial impact, the impact to moral and readiness, trust in government, something that will last way after this crisis is over, and as you rely on an all-volunteer force, these are things that need to be thought about. We've asked 1 percent of the population to do a lot, a whole lot over these last ten years. So to be in the middle of a government shutdown and to say your paychecks might be at risk or the medical facilities on your base might shut down, is child care open, are schools open, which we're receiving guidance from the DOD as much as they have it to give to the families. But the impact is going to last past this immediate crisis.</s>KOSIK: OK, Vivian Greentree, thanks so much for your time.</s>GREENTREE: Thanks for having me.</s>KOSIK: Sure. On Tuesday, open enrolment begins for Obamacare, and some people aren't too happy, because they feel they're being forced to buy health care coverage. So I want you to listen to this I-Report from William Bernstein. He's from Virginia Beach, Virginia.</s>WILLIAM BERNSTEIN, CNN I-REPORTER: Hello, everyone. I'm William. So here's the deal. I've not had health insurance since 2007. That's when I stopped working full-time. Since then, I've had many part-time jobs. Right now I do piano playing for churches and events part-time, I work at this shipping company right here part-time, and I do freelance news and storm reporting part-time. That's the key word or words, part-time equals no health insurance. And come January, me and millions of other Americans are going to be forced to do and to pay for Obamacare? I don't think so. Obamacare is unconstitutional and needs to be overturned and maybe it's going to take my voice and millions of others to do that, and if that's what it's going to take, then so be it.</s>KOSIK: And if you currently don't have health insurance, we want to hear your story. Log on to cnnireport.com, and share your video describing your experiences. U.S. strategy in Syria just got a lot more complicated. Militant firefighters join forces and reject the opposition. It's a new hard line. Next, can American policy make a difference?