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...
As a "non-excepted" employee, I am prohibited by law from entering my office or even turning on my gov-provided cell phone or computer -- or even opening my govt webmail. In contrast to "excepted" employees, I do not expect to be paid for my forced leave this time, and as (fair) federal ethics rules still apply, I cannot work in my field while still nominally "employed" by the fed govt. I'd consider applying for a waiver from our Ethics Office, but they (of course) are also locked out. I am doing some unrelated work (at a small fraction of my salary of course) in an attempt to continue to meet my mortgage payments as this drags on....
In my opinion, the biggest problem is the blatantly unconstitutional redistricting that occurred after the last two Censuses. I know both parties have done it, but this was a nationally coordinated effort that has created a situation where an irresponsible minority can operate outside of the American public's best intent and aspirations, and, it seems, the sphere of objective reality.
All I can ask folks is to look at the facts of how this came down and get involved and vote accordingly in 2014 and 2016. The U.S. Government's dramatic step-back from Syria and Sen. Sherrod Brown's survival in 2014 show that strong public opinion can still sway things, even in our big-money, gerrymandered world.