I do know for a fact that the Idaho National Laboratory, which is essentially a part of DoE, will be accepting the resignation of anyone who refuses to get vaccinated come November.

So there's certainly no ground for dispute on this issue, and I have it on good authority that they're already hiring replacements for anyone who is anticipated to not get the vaccine and therefore is forfeiting their jobs.

Knowing that then, there's a disconnect between what you're saying the message is and what the message actually is.

The mandate from the white house says specifically for companies over 100 employees it's either vaccinate or provide weekly tests.

FEDERAL employees, who work for the President, and contractors that work for the government don't get the " or test." They have to get vaccinated.

And then I have to wonder- how many "small government" conservatives work for the government? Does the federal executive branch employ that many conservatives?

Contrary to what you may think, plenty of us conservatives don't have an issue with the government. That's doubly true for the DoE, which is one of the more important bureaucracies we've currently got in place.

Besides, it's Idaho. The state is redder than an embarrassed ruby. It's called the bastion of conservatism for a reason, haha, and that means DoE doesn't have much choice in who it hires.