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Interview with Rep. Erik Paulsen; Government Shutdown; Health Care Rollout Glitches Getting Better

Aired October 03, 2013 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

REP. ERIK PAULSEN (R), MINNESOTA: Because a $17 trillion debt, that's nothing to scoff at.

We need to address that with future plans as opposed -- and make sure we don't default, obviously.

But we've got to have a plan in place so it's reformed and fixed in the future.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Congressman Erik Paulsen, thanks so much. Appreciate you being with us today.

PAULSEN: Good to be with you.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CO-ANCHOR: And at least he's talking about talking. We hope there's going to be some action.

You're looking at the clock there, 60 hours, day 3.

HOLMES: And counting.

MALVEAUX: Yes, and counting. More needs to be done.

And, coming up, you're going to hear from people essentially squeezed by this government shutdown.

How this veteran, she could lose two pay and two disability checks if the fight continues.

We're going to bring you her story, up next, on CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back.

It is day three of the government shutdown. We are waiting for some live events actually from the White House, also from Capitol Hill.

The daily White House briefing, that's due to start any minute now. We are watching it, as you can imagine. We'll take you there as soon as that gets under way.

Also, in about 15 minutes from now, you will hear from the House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, at her weekly news conference. And of course, we did hear from President Obama last hour, making his case to the country and Congress that the paralyzing shutdown must end so that American people and get back to work.

The president says it can happen right away if House Speaker John Boehner allows a clean vote on the spending bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The only thing preventing people from going back to work, and basic research starting back up, and farmers and small business owners get their loans, the only thing that's preventing all that from happening right now today in the next five minutes is that Speaker John Boehner won't even let the bill get a yes or no vote because he doesn't want to anger the extremists in his party.

That's all. That's what this whole thing is about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The president says he is willing to negotiate, but only after Congress reopens the government.

Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: And so you heard the president, but it is really not about the big numbers that politicians throw around. It really is about people like Robyn Conley.

She's a furloughed federal worker, a disabled veteran, a single parent with two kids, one in college. Her entire livelihood depends on the federal government.

And Robyn Conley, she joins us this morning.

And, Robyn, thank you so much for just being here and taking the time to explain this here because you've got a 17-year-old freshman in college. You've got a 13-year-old, these two young boys. You've got to raise them.

What does this mean for you?

ROBYN CONLEY, FURLOUGHED FEDERAL WORKER: It means I don't know. It means uncertainty and that's a scary thought.

I was taught I can have a piece of the American dream, a piece of the pie if I lived right, was law-abiding, attended school, got an education and now all of that is threatened with the government shutdown.

MALVEAUX: And we're talking about income. We're talking about your paycheck here. We're talking about disability.

You have an amazing story. You broke your back as part of active duty and that requires medical care. You're on disability. Explain. CONLEY: Well, what happened is I am a disabled American vet, and my paycheck is dependent upon Congress.

So I really don't know what I'm going to do. I have student loans from achieving master's degree. I don't know how those will be paid.

You know, I'm going to take Christine's advice and try to get the default and the deferment, so I won't default, but it's a bad situation, all around, and not just me but for the American people.

MALVEAUX: What have you told your sons?

CONLEY: I told them to always believe in the dream, but now that dream is threatened, and so I don't know what to tell them.

They're affected significantly. They want to do things. They want to do our normal go out to dinner, go out to the movie. We can't do any of those things.

My son had a scheduled field trip to the Capitol to go visit the monument, 60 students, and now that is threatened as well.

MALVEAUX: And the one who's in college, is it worried for you? Is he worried for the family. Does he say, look, mom, I'm going to pick up another job?

CONLEY: Right. He works part time, but he's also apply as at other areas, other employers, to work an additional part-time job.

I don't want him to be forced to drop out of school to help me, you know, keep our family intact.

MALVEAUX: Yeah, I mean, it's a burden enough. It's a strong enough job, a big enough job that you have.

One of the things the president said, and I want you to listen to this, because it's not just about the government shutdown, right? Because this has lasted for three days, but now we've got this, the possibility of defaulting on our debt, on our loans.

Here's how he says this is coming, this is looming, this is next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: In a government shutdown Social Security checks still go out on time. In an economic shutdown, if we don't raise the debt ceiling, they don't go out on time.

In a government shutdown, disability benefits still arrive on time. In an economic shutdown, they don't.

In a government shutdown, millions of Americans, not just federal workers, everybody faces real economic hardship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: If we default on our loans, what does that mean for you?

CONLEY: It means uncertainty. It means I don't have a house. I don't have a car. I don't have the credit that I've worked hard to establish.

I just don't know. And that's a scary thought, not being in control of my own destiny when I've put things in my life to have control.

MALVEAUX: Message to Congress, you got anything to say to people in Washington? I mean, it's discouraging.

CONLEY: It's very discouraging.

I would like Congress to know that as we approach, you know, going on a week of the shutdown, the American people want to work.

I represent -- I'm the union rep for the Atlantic district office of the American Federation of Government Employees. We want to do our jobs. We want to eradicate discrimination in the workplace.

We can't do that if we're shut down. We want to pay our bills on time. We already lost five days with the previous furlough. Our paychecks were late for four days. You know, with the loom of the debt ceiling, we just don't know.

MALVEAUX: You want to work.

CONLEY: We want to work. That's the bottom line.

MALVEAUX: All right, Robyn, I wish you the very best, you, your family, your sons, you get through this and you get on the other side of it.

It's a very difficult time for you and a lot of people, so we wish you well. We'll invite you back, and see how things are going the next couple of weeks. We appreciate it. Thanks.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It is day three of open enrollment for President Obama's Affordable Care Act.

And our Dr. Sanjay Gupta popped by an enrollment call center in Baltimore. He tells us that workers are reporting fewer glitches.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We've been in three states now in three days, very different states, South Carolina, Kentucky, and now Maryland.

South Carolina, about one-in-five people uninsured down there, the federal government running their exchange. And Kentucky, more of a state divided, very Democratic govern, two senators Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell, very much against this plan while the Democratic governor got it through.

And then here in Maryland, we got a look now inside sort of the nerve center, if you will, of this program here, people taking calls about the Affordable Care Act's implementation.

This has been a busy place as you might imagine to try and get things done.

Maryland has had its share of glitches as well, although we're now hearing now since just 1:00 in the morning last night, they've been able to get a software patch to fix some of these problems.

The problem really seemed to revolve around the ability to log-in, and we hear even since 1:00 in the morning, they've had nearly a thousand more accounts created, so nearly 2,000 in total now here, and those numbers expected to increase.

But lots of questions, as you might imagine. This is a pretty historic thing, so we want to bring in Maria, who's one of the call center representatives, to talk about this.

What are some of the most common questions you're getting?

MARIA, CALL CENTER REPRESENTATIVE: I have a pre-existing condition. Can I enroll? How do I get started? And how much do plans cost?

GUPTA: So with pre-existing conditions, I mean, this is sort of the crux of the whole thing. My understanding is, on the application, they're not even asked about this, right?

MARIA: Right. The process is much more streamlined, much more simple. They don't --

GUPTA: So if they say I have diabetes or cancer or heart disease, you say --

MARIA: You still can get health insurance.

GUPTA: And it doesn't affect how much it costs you.

MARIA: Right.

GUPTA: What about the cost? Is there a range of costs? What are you telling people?

MARIA: Without subsidies, it can be as low as $150 for the 25-year- old. If you're a little older, it could be $300 to $400 a month.

If you get cost reduction or tax credits, it could be even lower, $50, $75 a month.

GUPTA: You know, I hear from a lot of people talking. They're just frightened of doing this. I think people signing up for anything makes them nervous.

You're here to shepherd them through. What would you -- what advice would you give people?

MARIA: Give us a call. Go to our Web site. We have navigators. We have local health departments, department of social services. We have insurance brokers out there. There's a lot of avenues to get help.

GUPTA: And if it goes well, it doesn't take that long, right?

MARIA: It doesn't take long.

GUPTA: OK.

MARIA: And we can guide you through the process in about 15 or 20 minutes. It just depends on how many questions you have and what you're shopping for.

GUPTA: OK, Maria, thank you very much.

And it's worth pointing out, if you look across the country, the estimates are, if you account for subsidies, you account for Medicaid dollars in those states, it could be about six in 10 people, 60 percent of people actually, paying about $100 or less for their monthly premiums. It's pretty historic times. This hasn't happened in nearly 50 years, this type of health care changes in this country. And you're getting a look at what that look like here in Maryland.

Back to you.

HOLMES: Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to help answer a whole lot more questions about the Affordable Care Act this weekend right here on CNN.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And coming up, Secretary of State John Kerry out with a message for Israel's leader. The U.S. is not fooled by Iran. But it has to look into all options to stop it from delivering nuclear weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: It would be diplomatic malpractice of the worst order not to examine every possibility of whether or not you can achieve that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Plus, what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thinks of Iran's new leader.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Day three of the government shutdown, in case you didn't know. We are waiting for a couple of live events from the White House, also from Capitol Hill. The daily White House briefing set to start any minute now. And we will, of course, take you there as soon as it gets underway. There will be plenty to talk about.

And also in a few minutes, you'll be hearing from the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi.

MALVEAUX: And besides the government shutdown, we're also keeping an eye on Iran. Israel's prime minister is now warning, President Obama is not to be fooled by what he calls sweet talk and smiles from the new president of Iran. Benjamin Netanyahu told a reporter in New York that President Hassan Rouhani does not call the shots in Iran and that Rouhani's messages of peace and friendship, nothing more than a smoke screen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER: I mean these people, the Iranian people, the majority of them would - are actually pro-western, but they don't have that. They're governed, not by Rouhani, they're governed by Ayatollah Khamenei. He heads a cult. It's one thing to say one thing, it's the other thing what they do. And I look at what the they do and not at what they say.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was it a mistake for President Obama to call him?

NETANYAHU: I don't think the call is the essential thing. The essential thing is the substance, what happens in the negotiations. I think we don't let Iran get away with it.

HOLMES: Secretary of State John Kerry heard those warnings from Israel's leader and says the United States is not taking Iran's new attitude at face value. Kerry says he is going to, however, give President Rouhani a chance to prove what he's promising.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: I did not interpret Prime Minister Netanyahu's comments as suggesting that we are being played somehow for suckers. I understood it to be a warning, don't be played. It would be diplomatic malpractice of the worst order not to examine every possibility of whether or not you can achieve that before you ask people to take military action or do what you have to do in order to prevent something from happening.

MALVEAUX: Of course the U.S. opening dialogue with Iran in close to, what, three decades. A really extraordinary development there.

HOLMES: Yes, exactly. Thirty-four years, yes.

MALVEAUX: Also coming up, we are following this, what companies are doing to help those who are hard hit by the shutdown. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Well, it's game on this weekend for the U.S. military academies, despite the government shutdown. A lot of people are kind of, you know, happy about this. They want to see something good. Army's going to take it to the field against Boston College on Saturday. That game is going to be played in Boston.

HOLMES: Yes, Navy is also taking on Air Force in Annapolis as scheduled. There was some concern that it wouldn't happen. A senior Defense Department official, though, tells CNN the Navy-Air Force game is being allowed because paying for it involves non-government appropriated funds.

MALVEAUX: So the academy games going to be reviewed week by week if the shutdown continues.

And, of course, an interesting story. There -- people are trying to make people feel a little bit better being furloughed. Maybe there's some freebies. They've got something to offer here. Make a little bit --

HOLMES: Some interesting freebies, too.

MALVEAUX: Yes. All right, so let's see, what do we have here being made available?

HOLMES: There's all sorts of stuff, but a lot of stuff being made available to some of the furloughed workers.

D.C. chef Jose Andres (ph), there you go, there's his tweet, his three area restaurants giving government employees free sandwiches every day until the government reopens.

MALVEAUX: And Zburger still giving away free burgers. You want to eat to your heart's content. Howard Theater in Washington, of course, offering federal workers free passes -- a great place, by the way -- to three upcoming events including a concert featuring hip-hop star Big Boy.

HOLMES: The barbeque looks good. Car dealership in Silver Spring, Maryland, giving free services including oil changes and tire rotations. And, guess what, here's one for me, free knitting lessons in Alexandria, Virginia.

MALVEAUX: Just in case you need to knit some booties. I don't know.

HOLMES: Right. Get a burger, get a sandwich, and go to the knitting lesson.

MALVEAUX: All right, and hopefully get back to work soon in the meantime.

HOLMES: Yes, absolutely.

MALVEAUX: Thanks for watching.

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, Wolf Blitzer speaks with Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. That is next after a quick break. HOLMES: See you tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, day three of the government shutdown. President Obama came out firing at Congress today, telling Republicans to put a clean bill on the floor and vote already. But will that fly? We're talking to two House members with very different views.

Also right now, we're keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Karen set to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast this weekend. We'll be tracking this storm's path as it barrels through the Gulf.

And right now on Wall Street, the Dow is in negative territory. There you see it's down by triple digits, below 15,000. The federal shutdown means there will be no monthly jobs report released tomorrow.

All right, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting from Washington today.

There's the White House Briefing Room. Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, expected to walk in fairly soon and brief reporters what's going on, answer some tough questions at the same time. This as we are now in - way deep into day three of the government shutdown.