A comment supporting the dedicated Capitol Police on Facebook reads:
But [the Capitol Police] won't stay home, and those that decided who was "nonessential" know that. They have too strong a sense of duty. Just to clear this up. We "excepted" and "non-excepted" Federal employees have no choice in the matter, so in that way, we are at best, pawns and at worst, hostages (and unsympathetic ones at that).The way Federal employees have been beaten around by political rhetoric ("government is the problem", etc etc) in the last 30 years has brought our defenders to a place that reminds me of a great West Wing line:
Toby: I hate this issue. It's like walking around town carrying a dead chicken. I'm a 26-year "non-excepted" Fed scientist, so I am speaking from personal experience as well as the guidance has been provided to me. The Capitol police are "excepted" -- they did not volunteer -- they are required to come into work, and, they will (eventually) be paid. In my agency, which is within the Department of the Interior, 50 of our 8000+ employees are "excepted". This includes a skeleton staff needed to maintain critical assets : for example, animals under our care, and a nuclear reactor.I will provide some on-the-ground details on the current reality for the "non-excepted" majority of Feds -- below the fold...
