While the U.S. trucker convoy has received little to no fanfare in the mainstream media, the convoy inadvertently made a mark on the daily operations of Congress, with Fox News reporting that those involved in the convoy probably had no idea what they did.
The outlet explained that according to the U.S. Constitution, the House must gavel in for a “pro forma” session every three days, and presiding over such ceremonial sessions are usually lawmakers from local Virginia or Maryland suburbs.
For the session scheduled at 1 p.m. on Monday, Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) was chosen to gavel in and preside over the session.
However, that didn’t happen as planned.
Truckers delay Congress
Due to the fact that there are still truckers in the People’s Convoy driving around Washington D.C., traffic has become somewhat of a nightmare.
Beyer, who had just finished an event with students at Wakefield High School, located in northern Virginia, was on his way to preside over the pro forma session when he encountered police-erected blockades to reach downtown from the 14th Street Bridge.
The Virginia lawmaker, likely in a panic as he was running tight on time to get the House session started, pulled his congressional credentials and showed police officers who were stationed at the blockades to the exit.
The officers let Beyer pass, uninhibited, so that he could perform his Constitutional duties, but it was too late. Beyer didn’t arrive at the Capitol complex until after the deadline, and gaveled in at 1:22 p.m.
As a result, the truckers who continue to drive around D.C. essentially caused Congress to be shut down for 22 minutes.
Truckers’ latest progress
WJLA reported that after taking a break for a day, Freedom Convoy truckers once again took to the roads surrounding the nation’s capital in protest of COVID restrictions and other wrongdoings by the U.S. government.
As a result, the DC Metropolitan police department alerted drivers at the beginning of the week to expect increased delays as a result of the continued protest.
The group, so far, has reportedly received around $2 million in donations, which leaders of the protest say will be used mostly to compensate drivers for fuel costs.