So, I returned to DC today to see the continuing protest in the House. Since I knew where and when things were, I was much more prepared; I left for the bus stop just as the sun came up (5:30), got a bus at 6, and stopped for breakfast in Falls Church (which is a really beautiful place… I’m looking forward to the day when eastern Loudoun is as well-developed as northern Fairfax). Then, I took a metro over to Capitol South, got into the Canon building (and still somehow beat Frank Wolf’s staff there, so I just waited around), and then sat around in a Starbucks.

This time it was a good deal more organized than Monday, which was certainly more organized than the previous Friday. The staff knew when it was happening, as did the Captiol police. I’d heard that Newt Gingrich was meeting with the Republicans, and asked if the meeting was open; sadly, it wasn’t. It was worth a try, though.

After sneaking in behind another tour group (those lines are too much) and accidentally making it through screening with gum in my mouth (being a former high school student, I’m too good at instinctively hiding it and forgetting it’s even in my mouth), I got into the gallery and watched the group come in. Only three representatives from Monday made it: Frank Wolf, who sadly gave that overdramatic “CHINA! DARFUR! CUBA!” speech again (passionate, but not nearly as good as the others), Lou Gohmert, and Marsha Blackburn.

Right after Wolf, I moved down onto the House floor and soon got a seat right in the second row.

Read on…

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I read about what happened in the House on Friday, and was immediately excited that finally, FINALLY some elements of Congress were willing to stay and work harder than their schedule demanded. When I read on Sunday that Roy Blunt had issued a memo calling for it to happen again, I was excited: I wanted to see this. So, as a seventeen-year-old with no car and not much money, I made my way down to the most powerful room in the world.

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