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From Deborah BrennanCalmness
This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.
With the highest military population in California, San Diego County is preparing for missed salaries and running on local food banks during the federal exclusion, now in its second week.
Last week, members of the armed services and federal officers were discarded or notified that they would have to work without pay after Democrats and Republicans in the Senate faced the cost of healthcare and other issues.
California has the most members of the service of each state, with about 213,000 military and an active duty reserve, according to federal data. More than half of them – 117,000 members of the service – are based in San Diego County, along with 34,000 civilian military officials who “would be forced to work without pay during stop”, three local local local local Congress members have statedS
The county hosts five military installations, including the power plants on the west coast at the base camp of the sea building Pentelon and the Naval Base San Diego. This is also one of the most valuable areas, as the city of San Diego is ranked as the 9th most expensive urban area of Community and Economic Research Council This year.
This contributes to a major headache for the military and their families, many of whom stretch their dollars in normal circumstances and can pass without pay this month. Officials said they were paid as usual on October 1, but many can miss their next salary on October 15. Others who pay monthly can see their salaries frozen on November 1st.
“We know that because of the cost of living in San Diego, the troops of active duty are already difficult to cope,” said reporter Scott Peters, Democrat from San Diego. “We would like to overcome this as quickly as possible. This is not a way to support them.”
Reporter Mike Levin, a Democrat from Carlsbad and Dana Point, said the members of the congress had proposed a bill called the Law on Our Troops, which would expand the military pay during the suspension.
“I don’t think the members of our service should be caught in the middle of this,” he said.
There is no movement in the passage of this bill, but Levin signed a letter calling for the speaker of the house Mike Johnson to lead him to a vote.
Military families are preparing for a loss of pay
Local groups supporting military families are preparing in case the braking extends from weeks to months.
“The rent still has to be paid, the food has to be released on the table, cars have to be paid, and our military families are already stressed by uncertainty,” says Maggie Mesa, CEO of the San Diego head of Blue Star families.
The group’s annual survey found that most military families across the country have less than $ 3,000 savings, and one in four members of the service struggles to put food on the table. This is a big problem for the more services at the bottom of the pay scale, the defenders said.
“This is an immediate impact for many people who live salary salary, like many of our junior troops,” says Janesa Goldback, CEO of the Vet Voice Foundation.
With food prices due to inflation and tariffs, food is a major concern. San Diego’s inflation in July was Tallest in the country At 4%, led by increasing costs of food, fuel, healthcare and cars. In order to compensate for increasing gaps in access to food, the San Diego Food Bank and San Diego’s food plans to expand the spread of food and add pop -up food banks near military installations.
The San Diego Food Bank serves 400,000 people each month, and about 10% of them are military and their families, said CEO Casey Castillo. This can be increased by tens of thousands if the stopping continues.
“We have reserves available and we also have a financial reserve policy that allows us to respond to emergencies like this,” Castillo said. “We have already started placing orders in case the demand is directed at the time of stopping. And it is also an opportunity to work with the food movement community.”
Alison Golier, a spokesman for San Diego’s nutrition, said the organization saw that last week he was taking advantage of the use of the Food Bank, which could represent people who were saving in anticipation of freezing the payment next week. The economic conditions in San Diego have set many members of the edge service, even before the suspension, she said.
“You can’t choose where you are,” she said. “Maybe what was right in another city is not able to stretch enough to connect the edges (in San Diego.) Then you choose between the placement of gas in the car, the food on the table, or the payment of the electricity bill. A missing salary: This changes in life.”
More woes to turn off
The status of federal nutrition complicates the picture. Like the Extra Eating Program (SNAP) and women, babies and children (WIC) have money for this month, but not funded afterwards, said Levin
Military Centers for Development of Children, Basic Commissioners and Healthcare can also reduce services or hours. The Naval Medical Center San Diego has said online that it will provide routine and emergency care, but the claims can be delayed during stopping.
“There are many double military families that rely on children’s raising services,” Goldback said. “So you ask people to appear for work without pay and potentially without care for their children.”
She said that stopping may also have foreign policy impacts if financial insecurity undermines morals and weakens the willingness of force.
“If you are located all over the world and try to focus on being on a mission and you should think about the fact that your family may not have food on the table, this is a very stressful scenario,” Glader said.
Public lands and beyond
San Diego has no national parks, but the Cabrilo National Monument and the National Forest in Cleveland are closed to the public. Notice on the monuments website states that “all events (including educational programs) are canceled until the expiration of budget loans continues.”
The staff of the monuments did not answer questions during the closure, but Goldback, whose organization organized veterans to support public lands, said dozens of school trips and weddings were excluded.
The National Park Service He said 846,000 people visited the monument last year, spending about $ 60 million in the community and contributing $ 80 million to the local economy. So its closure can moisturize regional tourism.
The 46,000 -acre forest cannot just close the gate to protect motorists and tourists, but the absence of forest staff and rangers creates the risk of both natural resources and tourists who ignore the closure. During the stop of 2018Unauthorized visitors to the park damaged the ancient trees in the Joshua National Park and dotted the valley of death with mounds with toilet paper.
“The last time the government closed, we saw overflowing garbage and human waste and saw people enter where there were no emergency services,” Goldback said.
Air traffic controllers and TSA employees are also the subject of braking and may need to work without pay. The Federal Aviation Administration has announced that the shortage of staff creates a delay in flight throughout the country as airport workers call the sick. Air Traffic Controllers in San Diego He had to intervene to operate flights at the Berbank airport after the air traffic control tower was temporarily left uninvited on Monday.
But the San Diego International Airport, which Open a new terminal last monthHe has not seen delays in flight or staff shortages so far, employees said.
“The San Diego International Airport continues to work normally,” and the main federal aviation staff, including air traffic controllers, is expected to remain on duty, “Nicole Hall spokesman said in a statement on Tuesday.
But as “the volume of travel is increasing or federal restrictions on staff are intensifying, delays may occur.”
The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce has warned that braking can destabilize cross -border business relations between San Diego and Mexico, upsetting industries, including tourism and defense.
“Every day, the government is closed creates disturbances that affect business, workers and families in our binary region,” said CEO and President Chris Kate.
What do legislators do
In San Diego, as in Washington, Colombia County, Democratic and Republican MPs are holding each other for stopping.
Jonathan Wilcox, a spokesman for reporter Darrell Isa, the lone Republican representative of San Diego, said Congress Democrats were determined by the date of expiration of tax loans in healthcare in the original legislation so that they were responsible for the sunset of this program.
“(ISSA) is voting to maintain funding at current levels and maintain the government open,” Wilcox said. “Every Democrat of the San Diego delegation voted no. Then the Democrats of the Senate closed the government. I think this record is clear.”
Tax loans introduced under former President Biden in 2021 have made health care more accessible to millions and their expirations can double the health insurance premiums for up to 600,000 Californians.
While Democrats set a deadline for initial tax loans for policy holders, they have set their position extension Before the policy holders, they would be confronted with a sticker shock during the next month’s open enrollment. They received unexpected support through the path this week.
“The Democrats, and now (Republican Representative), Marjorie Taylor Green, call on the premium aid to be extended and cancel the abbreviations of Medicaid,” said Tad Kusser, Professor of Political Science at UC San Diego. “And the Republicans are opposed to this. So there is an honest debate about healthcare policy that leads to stopping.”
Levin and Peters said the Republicans had to negotiate a compromise.
“Republicans control the chamber, the Senate and the White House,” Levin said. “They could do that today.”
The White House did not answer questions from Calmatters about the effects of stopping in San Diego.
Levin said he wanted to be detained his own pay during the stopping and Peters said he would donate his military organizations. They both questioned why President Donald Trump did not get involved with a reputation of deals to put an end to the impasse.
“Here’s the opportunity for this alleged great manufacturer to get people into the room and make the deal and so far it is not even trying,” Levin said.
There is even more about their request. Trump responded to Congress, approved funding for programs, including foreign assistance, infrastructure and education. So, if the Democrats agree to fund, they want to make sure he will spend it.
“We will need some confidence that if we make a deal, it will follow the deal, otherwise it would be foolish to agree,” Peters said.
This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.
