Critics of Defense Department furloughs have raised issue that workers paid through capital funds and not congressional budget appropriations were also furloughed by the Pentagon. About one-third of the furloughed Defense staffers fit into this category. The furloughs were imposed on the department after the sequester created a need to set slimmer budget targets, though capital funds workers receive compensation from fees that customers pay. House Republicans and Democrats expressed dissatisfaction with the Pentagon?s decision in separate letters to Undersecretary of Defense Robert Hale.
See "DOD furlough workers not paid through budget funds", Joe Davidson, The Washington Post, July 17, 2013