D.C. Hunger Strikers Hit Capitol Hill

The three Occupy DC activists hunger striking for D.C. voting rights took their fight to Capitol Hill Tuesday. The three demonstrators sat in wheelchairs all afternoon in front of house speaker John Boehner’s office on Capitol Hill. They appear gaunt and say they are now too weak to move around on their own.

Adrian Parsons, Sam Jeweler, and Kelly Miers pledged a hunger strike until D.C. earns legislative and budget autonomy, but right now the focus of the strikers has turned to reports Congress may add "riders" to D.C.’s budget that would ban funding for needle exchange programs or abortions services for low-income women.

The men say they will not leave Boehner’s office until they talk with the speaker about the riders. 

Meanwhile, as the protesters focus their attention on Congress, Congressman Darrell Issa, chair of the committee that oversees District affairs, is turning up the heat on the Occupy DC's campsite at McPherson Square.

Issa is asking the Department of the Interior to explain why the National Park service has let the protesters set up camp.