Protesters plan to bring trash to John Boehner's house
A group of Washington, D.C. protesters are planning to bring their trash to House Speaker John Boehner's residence on Saturday in the event of a government shutdown.
A Facebook page for the "Take your trash to Boehner's" event says that if the government shuts down, protesters will meet on Capitol Hill at 9:30am on Saturday and walk to Boehner's residence - trash in hand. (Or maybe a dumpster, which they are "trying to arrange.") As of Friday afternoon, more than 7,000 people had indicated on the Facebook page that they planned to attend the event.
Organizers say the planned protest is not actually about Congress's failure to pass a budget, but rather the resulting hardships D.C. residents will face as a result of a shutdown - including the suspension of trash collection throughout the city.
"Many people are mistaking this for a protest over Congress not passing a budget," they write. "This isn't about that, but is a result of that."
"You may know that Washington, DC residents pay taxes but have no voting representation in our Congress. What you may not realize though is that that body also has oversight and control over our city's budget and how we spend our local tax dollars," they continue.
In the case of a government shutdown, the House of Representatives will not be able to appropriate money to the city to fund its budget - which means that while "essential" services (like law enforcement and fire safety) will continue, a number of other services will be suspended.
"We are protesting at Speaker Boehner's house because he has the power to put bills on the floor of the House he controls to fix this," the group's Facebook page reads. "If he won't allow us to use OUR TAX DOLLARS to pick [the city's trash] up, maybe we should just BRING IT TO HIM."
The group has encouraged participants to the protest not to "bring lots of dirty, gross trash" and urges protesters to "Be respectful of the neighbors" - as they are also "having their lives disrupted by the shutdown."
A number of rallies have broken out over the past few days as a government shutdown has looked increasingly likely.
The American Foreign Service Association hosted a rally at the State Department on Friday, where lawmakers were urged to avoid the "sorry spectacle" of a shutdown.
"A shutdown of our government would not just be a sorry spectacle here at home," said Susan Johnson, president of the American Foreign Service Association. "It would not just be discouraging for hundreds of thousands of dedicated federal employees, or I should say millions of federal employees, and cause inconvenience to the people whom they serve - but we should also be mindful of how the world will look at the shutdown of the leadership role America wants and needs to play in global affairs."
And dozens of federal workers gathered in Chicago on Thursday to call for an end to the congressional bickering.
"I think it always goes back to Obama," one federal employee told Chicago's ABC7 News.
Another protester blamed "mainly the Republicans."
"I think both parties are pretty pathetic," chimed in someone else.
One federal employee made a final plea for a deal.
"Everybody should compromise," he said.
