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Protesters Outside of Boehner’s Apartment Claim GOP is “Treading on DC”
| Source: |
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Africana Online (africanaonline.com) |
| Date: |
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Thursday, February 24, 2011 |
| Author: |
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Erin |
Twenty protesters gathered outside of Speaker of the House John Boehner’s Washington area apartment on Thursday morning. The protesters, organized by D.C. Vote, used Boehner’s Tea Party rhetoric against him. Dressed in Revolutionary era hats and garb, the group stated that the GOP is “treading on D.C.” by intervening in local policy on education, health, and guns in its first weeks in power.
The protest was specifically focused on two amendments within a congressional spending resolution that would impact District spending on abortion and needle exchanges. Protesters chanted, “Don’t tread on D.C.” and “No taxation without representation.” The demonstrators were barred from getting any closer to Speaker Boehner’s home by police officers. Boehner came out of the apartment after about an hour, but he was quickly whisked into his vehicle and driven away without a word to the activists.
Ilir Zherka from D.C. Vote, a group dedicated to getting full voting rights for the residents of the District of Columbia, said it was only fair to hit Boehner where he lives. “He’s coming into people’s homes here in Washington, D.C.,” Zherka told DCist. “This is our home, he comes here and tells people what to do here — they should come to his house. … He is an inaccessible person, except that he lives in our midst. If we don’t have opportunities to meet with him, then we have to go where he is.”
The Washington Post reports that the Republican-backed measure “would cut roughly $80 million in federal payments to the District and prohibit the city from using its own money for abortions or needle-exchange programs.”
According to The Hill, the protest reflected “a new, more aggressive approach to objecting to congressional influence over the city. Last week, nearly a dozen demonstrators were thrown out of a House hearing on an abortion measure after staging a silent protest.”
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http://www.africanaonline.com/2011/02/protesters-outside-of- boehner%E2%80%99s-apartment-claim-gop-is-%E2%80%9Ctreading-on-dc%E2%80%9D/
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