Nonessential

I was reading today about the moaning and gnashing of teeth on Capitol Hill over the prospect of a government shutdown. The building complex is all a quiver because there are 2,600 federal employees who work there--this does not count the staff of the elected officials. Capitol hill employs people as elevator operators, food service workers, cleaning staff, maintenance workers, tour guides, etc. There is a Capitol Police force too, but I don't know if they are included in the 2,600 count. Many of these employees, if they are deemed "non-essential," will be off work in a few hours if a budget agreement isn't reached.

Is there any other office complex in the country that employs that many people just to keep the building running? In one article I read, they quoted someone as saying that most make 30-50K a year. At $30K, that means the Capitol has an operation budget of $78,000,000 just on salaries alone--and that's at the low end of the estimate.

Think there's any bloat in that budget?