WASHINGTON (AP) — The government shutdown is taking a hefty psychological toll on the nation’s military families, leaving them unsure week after week whether their paychecks will arrive.
Alicia Blevins, whose husband is a Marine, said she will see a therapist primarily because of the oppressive uncertainty.
“I don’t feel like I have the resources to deal with it,” said Blevins, 33, who lives at Camp Lejeune, a Marine base near the North Carolina coast. “I don’t want to put all of this on my husband. He has men he is responsible for. He has enough to do.”
Even though the Trump administration has found ways to pay troops twice since the shutdown began Oct. 1, the process is fraught with anxiety for many Americans in uniform and their families. Both times they stuck until the last minute.
Four days before paychecks were due to go out on October 15, President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to utilize “all available resources” to ensure US troops were paid. With the next payday approaching on Friday, the White House confirmed Wednesday that it had found the money.
The Trump administration plans to withdraw about $5.3 billion from various accounts, with about $2.5 billion coming from Trump’s sweeping tax and spending cuts law that took effect this summer.
But Washington’s scrounging for troop pay can only last so long.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the government will soon run out of options to compensate the military and that troops “will no longer be able to get paid” by Nov. 15.
“We are not thought about at all”
The uncertainty has fueled resentment among the families of the approximately two million energetic military personnel, National Guardsmen and reservists. There is a widespread refrain that the troops are being used as pawns.
But Jennifer Bittner, whose husband is an Army officer, said that gives too much credit to Congress.
“You have to be viewed as a pawn,” said Bittner, 43, of Austin, Texas. “And we’re not even thought about.”
Bittner’s 6-year-old daughter currently uses three inhalers because she suffers from high-risk asthma, chronic lung disease and a frigid. Each device requires a $38 co-pay at the pharmacy. Bittner’s severely autistic son requires diapers that cost $200 a month, while she sometimes has to haggle with military insurance to cover the cost.
She worries about these costs as well as the mortgage and groceries for her family of five.
“It’s mentally and sometimes physically exhausting to stress about it,” Bittner said her husband may have missed out on a paycheck, while noting that members of Congress are still getting paid.
Many active-duty soldiers live paycheck to paycheck and get by on just one income. Even if they are paid, the shutdown is exacerbating the financial burden for many families, said Delia Johnson, chief operating officer of the nonprofit Military Family Advisory Network.
The Oct. 15 paychecks arrived days later for many people with early direct deposit into their bank accounts, impacting their ability to pay bills on time and forcing some to pay behind schedule fees or accumulate debt, Johnson said. Active-duty troops may also have to contend with the additional costs of moving from one base to another, which is incurred by about 400,000 military households each year.
And many military spouses lose their jobs due to the move or find themselves underemployed due to repeated moves, Johnson said. Reimbursement of moving costs will be suspended for many during the shutdown, while not all costs will be reimbursed.
Reservists lose their weekend training pay
Monthly weekend exercises for many reservists have also been canceled, eliminating a portion of their pay that can be hundreds of dollars a month, military advocates said. In addition to paying mortgages and other bills, drill money is also used by some reservists to cover military health insurance premiums, said John Hashem, executive director of the Reserve Organization of America, an advocacy group.
“People depend on this money,” Hashem said of the drilling wages. “The way things are expanding now, it almost feels like the service is being taken for granted.”
The reserve organization, along with other groups, called on congressional leaders in a letter Tuesday to pass a measure to pay National Guard members and reservists.
The financial strain exacerbated by the closure prompted the Military Family Advisory Network to create an emergency food assistance program this month. The nonprofit said 50,000 military families signed up within 72 hours.
The food boxes were assembled in a Houston warehouse by food and logistics company Umoja Health, said marketing chief Missy Hunter, and contained everything from pasta and spaghetti sauce to pancake mix and syrup.
Blevins said she and her husband received a box that gave them some peace of mind. Meanwhile, she said, her husband is still working, coming home exhausted and with a “long look” in his eyes.
The couple moved to North Carolina from Camp Pendleton, California, in September, dipping into their savings. They are still waiting for a refund of around $9,000.
“We’re constantly checking the news,” Blevins said. “And my Facebook feed is nothing but, ‘It’s the Democrats’ fault. It’s the Republicans’ fault.’ And I’m just wondering: Can’t we just get out of the blame game and deal with it?”
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AP congressional correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
