Capitol staff told to consider working from home as People’s Convoy arrives

Congressional staff have been told to work from home or book a hotel room paid for by their taxpayer funded office as the roughly 1,000 vehicle People’s Convoy moves moves to jam the 64-mile highway surrounding Washington D.C. for the second day in a row. 

The cavalcade of semi-trucks, recreational vehicles and cars on Monday will make one loop around the Beltway – the circular stretch of I-495 that connects Virginia, Maryland and D.C. – and occupy two lanes of traffic in an effort to put an end to coronavirus mandates and what the protesters describe as ‘government overreach’. The group first circled the highway on Sunday in one lane and brought traffic to a standstill.

‘Hey DC, if you weren’t sure from yesterday just how BIG we are, here’s your chance to get a second look! Oh and PS, we are growing by the minute!!’ Kris Young, admin of the convoy’s Facebook page, wrote Monday morning before the group departed from Hagerstown, Maryland. ‘We will hold the line! YOU WORK FOR US!’

The goal, organizers aid, is to be a ‘huge pain,’ causing massive traffic jams as commuters try to make their way through the D.C. metro area. Maryland State Police have warned of massive traffic delays.  

The Pentagon on Monday approved requests from U.S. Capitol Police and the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency to extend National Guard support at traffic control points throughout D.C. and the Capitol building until Wednesday in response to the trucker protest.

Meanwhile, at least 20 convoy members will meet with a group of Congressional senators and representatives on Tuesday to discuss their demands, truckers familiar with the appointment confirmed to DailyMail.com. Rep. Matt Gaetz, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and others are expected to attend the meeting.

Brase, 37, of Ohio, noted Sunday he is ‘hopeful that we will have successful dialogue with congressmen and women and senators’ and that the conversation will ‘help get what we’re looking for pushed through in a timely fashion.’ 

Police and congressional leaders noted Monday that there are currently two convoys in D.C. – the People’s Convoy and the American Truckers Freedom Convoy, which is maintaining camp at the Dominion Raceway in Spotsylvania, Virginia.

As the convoys continues to protests in D.C., the Americans For Justice organization – a group whose mission is to fight for the survival of the U.S. Constitution – is holding a nationwide Great American Assembly protest Monday in support on the truckers. The group has called on its members to assemble outside their state capitols to protest numerous political issues including medical freedom, election integrity, political prisoners, the southern border crisis, child trafficking and red flag gun legislation. 

To help combat increased drive times caused by the armada of truckers in the People’s Convoy, House Sergeant at Arms William Walker and House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor wrote to Capitol Hill staff on Sunday night urging them to either work from home or use public transportation.

If that was not an option, the two House officers gave the unusual option of letting staff get a hotel room paid for by their congressional office, which is funded by taxpayer money, so they can stay close to the Capitol and avoid a commute.

‘In general, living expenses and commuting expenses, including lodging expenses at a Member’s or employee’s regular duty station, are not reimbursable with official funds, except in extraordinary circumstances,’ Walker and Szpindor write in a letter obtained by DailyMail.com.

‘Considering the current situation, the Committee on House Administration has determined that extraordinary circumstances exist to permit use of official funds to reimburse short-term lodging expenses in the Washington, D.C., area for certain Members and staff,’ they noted. 

To meet the requirement for an office-paid hotel room, staff must show their commute to the Capitol would be disrupted by the convoy, that their job is essential and requires them to be on the four-acre Capitol campus, and there is no feasible public transportation option.  

Residents of the D.C. metro area are also worried of possible traffic jams during the Monday rush hour because of the massive 18-wheelers.  

In a statement posted to Twitter on Sunday night, the Maryland State Police urged drivers to anticipate ‘higher volumes of traffic’ as they try to get to work on Monday, when the convoy plans to once again loop the 64-mile Beltway.

‘While public safety remains a priority and we work to fulfill our statewide law enforcement responsibilities, the Maryland State Police respects the public’s First Amendment rights,’ the police said in the statement. 

But, in a bit of irony, the convoy, which wanted to cause traffic jams, ended up getting caught up in Washington notorious traffic itself on Sunday. 

As the trucks made their way onto I-495 Beltway, they moved slowly to try and block the multi-lane highway but their presence got deluded by the mass of vehicles that traverses one of the busiest interstates in the country.

Most cars were able to move around the trucks, which flew American flags and had signs that read ‘Don’t tread on me’ and ‘mandate freedom.’

Officials, however, were worried things could be worse on Monday when the commuter rush is even bigger.

‘It is an unpredictable and fluid event that we are witnessing,’ said Christopher Rodriguez, director of the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. ‘Our residents, commuters and visitors should expect traffic disruptions over the next several days.’ 

Trucker and People’s Convoy organizer Brian Brase said Sunday the group is coordinating with local law enforcement, while also acknowledging that ‘obviously there’s a natural disturbance’ caused by their protest.

‘We do not want to impede traffic any more than necessary to get our message across,’ he said. 

Brase added: ‘If they don’t come to the table to meet with us or they ignore us, then every day it will escalate.’

The trucker had previously claimed the group would continue to circle the Beltway each day this week, clogging one of the main arteries into DC until the their demands are met. However, Sunday he indicated that plans will be determined day-by-day.

Another organizer has not ruled out the trucks honking their horns along Pennsylvania Avenue, despite the convoy’s promise not to go into the capital city limits. 

‘I can tell you now that there will be select trucks going to the White House,’ organizer Dan Fitzgerald revealed on his Friday morning livestream. ‘I don’t want people thinking we are invading D.C. This is not the convoy going into D.C. commons. This is a few select drivers.’ 

Brase echoed the sentiment Sunday morning before the convoy departed for the Beltway for the first time. He said that although they weren’t going into D.C. proper on Sunday ‘it does not mean it won’t happen’ in the future.

‘We are not going to sit idly by,’ he said. ‘We are going to continue to press forward with our mission, but we are also going to do so with some diplomacy to show that we are not unreasonable and willing to talk, but also flex our muscle if you do not hear us.’ 

The trucker reiterated: ‘We’re doing this to let them know that we are very serious. We’re doing this to let them know we will not give in. We will not bend the knee to them and to remind them that they work for us.’ 

He also claimed the group will continue to protest ‘peacefully’ and ‘with some class’ as they had done ‘coming all the way across the country.’   

However, the fate of their protest remains unclear as the truckers need to leave the Hagerstown Speedway by 10pm on Monday. Some speculate this could impact the convoy’s ability to stick together for future Beltway loops.

The People’s Convoy – a spinoff from a protest in Canada started by truckers upset at vaccine requirements to cross the Canadian border – traveled from southern California nearly 2,500 miles to D.C. on an 11-day trek. 

The truck cavalcade stopped in major U.S. cities and rural towns along the way to D.C., holding rallies and meeting with their supporters. 

While Monday is only their second day clogging the Beltway, it marks the group’s twelfth day of protest.  The convoy has raised more than $1.6 million in donations made through its own website.

The People’s Convoy was established in response to the mandates instated in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Their leaders told DailyMail.com they are fighting ‘government overreach.’

‘We the People of the United States, in Order to restore our once perfect Union, re-establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense of all, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty, do ordain and establish the restoration movement of The People’s Convoy for the United States of America,’ the missions statement on the group’s website reads. 

The convoy is demanding that President Joe Biden end the national emergency originally declared at the start of the pandemic, as well as scrap any remaining coronavirus mandates. The truckers allege the government has infringed upon their constitutional rights with the mandates. 

However, their protest comes as nearly every state in America has either lifted or relaxed indoor mask mandates, or has set a date to do so in the near future. The lone holdout is Hawaii, the island state that has had the strictest mandates of anywhere in the country throughout the pandemic. 

Additionally, only 19 states currently have vaccine mandates in effect, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy – but the mandates do not apply to all individuals and their requirements vary by state.

Some political analysts allege the group is also calling for over-arching federal accountability and addressing additional political issues such as the alleged ‘fraudulent’ 2020 election and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.