About 30 protesters have occupied a waiting area in an office belonging to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), saying they are speaking up for unemployed and under-employed people in the District.
The protesters, all said to be District residents, were organized by a new nonprofit group, OurDC. They arrived about 10:30 a.m. at McConnell’s third-floor office in the Russell Senate Office Building, an organizer said. A staffer offered to meet with the group, but the group insisted on meeting with McConnell himself.
“The Senator needs to see their pain, hear their stories, and really needs to look them in the eye,” said James Adams, one of the group’s organizers. The protesters said they wanted to lobby McConnell to support some of President Obama’s jobs proposals, because they include millions of dollars in funding for projects in the District.