Furloughed workers should not get back pay. Instead they should get a small amount of severance pay. If they are not essential then they should not be working for the government. No exceptions for sentiment of fairness. 90% of the federal workforce should be placed back into the private world.
All you do is complain! That is all you do. You complain abou nonessential people should be fired, yet you complain that contract priests can’t say mass. That a few memorials are closed. And a few parks and beaches are closed. Look you see nonessential people fired then stop complaint about a memorial being closed. This is what you hope and pray for. Oh I forgot about the Air Force Navy game you cried about that was pooibly cancelled. This is one reason why we will never balance the budget. You have pet projects. Liberals have pet projects and God forbid you miss the day at the beach. Good day!!!!!!
It would be really nice if folks would get a grasp of the "essential/non-essential" concept before spouting off. Whether or not one is essential is based on specific situations/crises and not on a day-to-day basis. There are times when active duty military are separated into essential/non-essential due to the mission at hand and the constraints of what is going on.