This is the third and final part of my blog about my trip to Washington D.C. July 19-23, 2023. The first part focused on my arrival in Washington D.C, the friends I stayed with in Takoma Park, touring the National Archives and Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and the Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) Conference to prepare for the Congressional Lobby Day.

Part 2 is an account of my experience lobbying on Congressional Offices on July 22nd.
Part 3 (below) is my recollection of the evening guided tour of the U.S. Capitol Building led by Congresswoman Val Hoyle.

Invitation for a Guided Tour of the U.S. Capitol led by Congresswoman Val Hoyle

For this July 22, 2025 CCL Congressional Lobby Day, had something different planned for Oregon CCL volunteers. Teresa Welch from Corvallis, OR asked her member of Congress, Representative Val Hoyle, to give a tour of the U.S. Capitol to the Oregon CCL delegation. Daniela Brod, Oregon CCL state co-coordinator, sent this email the day before on July 21st:

“Hello Oregonians in DC-
We have just been presented the opportunity to take a tour of the Capitol building guided by Rep. Val Hoyle, Oregon’s Representative for the 4th District. We do not know the EXACT timing at this point, but we hear it will be tomorrow, Tuesday July 22nd, ‘Evening’.
I assume this will be around 5 or 6pm. Don’t know though.
Please respond here if you are interested with a ‘YES’”

I immediately responded with “Yes! Please RSVP me!”

Teresa then sent out an email on the morning of the July 22nd lobby day:

“Good morning,
For those of you going on tonight’s tour of the Capitol with Rep. Hoyle, here is what you need to know.
The tour will begin at 7pm from Rep. Hoyle’s office (1620 Longworth).
Be sure you are in the building BEFORE 7pm, as the office buildings close to the public at 7pm. If you are late, you’ll need to contact one of your group who is already in Rep. Hoyle’s office, and they will have to ask Rep. Hoyle to come down and escort you inside.
The tour will last about two hours. Wear comfortable walking shoes. Restrooms are available along the route.
Have fun!”

Even with the normal excitement of the CCL photo on the Capitol steps and the Congressional lobby meetings, I felt the tug of anticipation for this Capitol tour with Rep. Hoyle at 7 pm.

After I finished my lobby meetings around 4:30 pm, I met up with two Oregon CCL friends. We walked to a nearby pizzeria called We, the Pizza to order slices of pizza before the evening tour. We ate our pizza on tables outside in front of the restaurant. It was a typical Washington, D.C. humid July day. But, not too hot that we could relax eating outside while the traffic and local D.C. pedestrians walked by us, with some stopping inside to order and pick up their pizzas.

We then walked back over the House Congressional Offices Buildings to go to Rep. Hoyle’s office in the Longworth House Office Building on the 6th floor. We arrived in front of her office around 6:30 pm. Others from the Oregon CCL team joined us inside her office around 6:45 pm. As we waited patiently, a gentleman from New York City joined us who was a survivor of the 9/11 attacks. Like the CCL advocates, he lobbied Congressional offices that day, but he advocated for federal funding for 9/11 survivors. He was friendly and graciously answered my questions about his memories of experiencing 9/11 in New York City. He told us that Rep. Val Hoyle struck up a conversation with him that day. She then invited him on this U.S. Capitol tour that evening.

As we waited inside the office, a large group from Ocean Spray Cranberries stood outside. Rep. Hoyle also invited them on the tour. Around 7 pm, Rep. Hoyle came out of her office delighted to start this U.S. Capitol Tour with everyone assembled. Included in this group, I met a middle-aged woman who was a lifelong best friend of Val Hoyle. Both of them grew up in Nashua, New Hampshire. Her childhood friend stayed in New England while Val moved to Oregon decades ago. They stayed close. Her friend was so excited when Val was elected to Congress since she could see her more often on the east coast.

Guided Tour of the U.S. Capitol Building led by Congresswoman Val Hoyle

At the beginning of the tour, Rep. Hoyle disclosed she likes giving these tours of the U.S. Capitol herself. She informed us the Republican House members tend to give the tours more than their Democratic colleagues. However, more Democratic members see the value of giving these U.S. Capitol tours themselves, instead of delegating them to staff or the Capitol Tour Guides, as a great way to connect with constituents and the public. In fact, Rep. Hoyle ran into one of her GOP colleagues leading a tour of the Capitol while we were in the middle of our tour. They were friendly and easy going briefly chatting with each other. They did not display the animosity that you see GOP and Democratic members of Congress acting towards each other on TV.

This tour lasted over 2 hours with Rep. Hoyle narrating the entire tour. She had some notes with her, but she mostly spoke without her notes with all the details she knew about the U.S. Capitol Building. She started the tour by showing us the artwork in the Cannon Tunnel, a curved tunnel connecting the House Cannon Office Building to the U.S. Capitol. Along one of the walls is displayed paintings from high school students across the U.S. Each state and territory is allotted two pieces of art. Rep. Hoyle marveled at the artwork remarked that nearly all of it looked like it was created by adults not high school students.

We then stepped into the lower-level visitor lobby of the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. Just before we entered, we looked up at a glass ceiling with the U.S. Capitol Dome peaking right above us. On either side of the staircases leading into the Capitol Building stood a white 19.5-foot plaster replica of the bronze Statue of Freedom that sits on top of the Capitol Dome. Rep. Hoyle informed us that the statute on top of the U.S. Capitol weighs almost 8 tons.

The plaster statue was inspiring to see up close. It was a Romanesque looking woman with feathers on top of her head wearing robes. Her right-hand holds handle upon of a sheathed sword wrapped in a scarf. Her left hand she hangs onto a laurel wreath of victory and the shield of the United States with 13 stripes.

Congresswoman Hoyle then wanted us to notice the 18 statues placed around the Visitor Center. These 18 statues are part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The legislatures of each U.S. state and the District of Columbia selected two statues of noted individuals from their state to be displayed throughout the Capitol. In the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, I took photos and admired the bronze statues of Helen Keller from Alabama, Sakakawea from North Dakota, Kamehameha I from Hawaii, Frederick Douglas from Washington D.C, John I “Jack” Swigert, Jr. from Colorado, and Johnny Cash from Arkansas. Rep. Hoyle particularly liked the Johnny Cash statue. She proclaimed, ‘If Johnny Cash was from Oregon, we would have the Johnny Cash statue.”

We next entered the area known as the Capitol Crypt. It is the spaced of vaulted columns located one level below the Capitol Rotunda. It is long been referred to as the Crypt because it looks like areas in churches, which were often used for chapels and tombs. Directly beneath the Crypt is a spot where Congress intended to place the remains of George and Martha Washington. However, his last will stipulated his desire to be buried at home at Mount Vernon. Thus, No one was buried in the Capitol.

Even though the name, the crypt, makes it sound dreary and dark, this area was well lit with plenty of lighting, plus light grey marble floors and walls. It contained more state designated statues such as Billy Graham for North Carolina, John C. Calhoun for South Carolina, and Samuel Adams for Massachusetts. It held a large white stone bust of Abraham Lincoln and respected international leaders who defended freedom, such as Winston Churchill and Václav Havel former President, author, poet, playwright and dissident of Czechoslovakia. I admired all the stone statues and artwork on display in the U.S. Capitol Building. I spent a lot of time on the tour gazing at the artwork. The U.S. Capitol is a shrine to American democracy, but also a temple of sacred art showcasing the best of the American democracy ideal.

The Shadow of the January 6, 2021 Insurrection that was felt during the Capitol Tour

We turned a corner from the Crypt and saw a sign for the exterior area for the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. This is where the tour of the U.S. Capitol became a bit frightening and eerie for me. I remember the news reports of the violent January 6th insurrectionists smashing that same sign for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. When the rioters smashed that sign, they smashed a piece of my heart for my reverence for American democracy.

We then went upstairs to be in the Capitol Rotunda area. I have vivid memories of the news stories with the January 6th insurrectionists walking through the Rotunda area unsure what to do. I was memorized by the life size paintings on the curved walls depicting the American Revolution and early colonial history. It was glorious to see the ceiling painting “The Apotheosis of Washington” in the ceiling or eye of the Rotunda painted by Constantino Brumidi in 1865. It shows George Washington ascending to the heavens in glory, surrounded by female figures representing Liberty and Victory/Fame. Back on the floor level, I was in awe seeing the statues of 8 Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses S. Grant, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Andrew Jackson, James Garfield, and Harry Truman spaced around the Rotunda. In addition, the Rotunda had a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sculpture and the Portrait Monument to the women’s rights suffragettes Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

As I was enthralled seeing all this artwork standing in the rotunda, I was sad to think about the January 6th insurrectionists possibly damaging this sacred art representing American history. It made me angry to think Donald Trump instigated the insurrection. Mobs of people responded to his call by violently invading the Capitol Building and crowding into the Rotunda. It was later revealed that the rioters caused curators to seek $25,000 to repair artworks damaged in U.S. Capitol Attack. Days after the January 6th insurrection, curators found fine residue that could wreak long-lasting damage on some of the fragile historical busts I saw, such as Speaker Champ Clark, Speaker Joe Cannon, and a statue of Thomas Jefferson. January 6th taught us that democracy is as delicate and fragile as the majestic Capitol artwork. In February 2021, the Architect of the Capitol outlined $30 million in damages from the Pro-Trump riot.

It felt creepy that Trump was inaugurated as President inside the Rotunda just months before on January 20th. That same month, former President Jimmy Carter lay in state in the Rotunda less than two weeks before Trump was sworn in President there. So much history in that room. In addition, I spotted a large bronze plaque dedicated:

“IN MEMORY OF
THE PASSENGERS AND CREW OF UNITED AIRLINES FLIGHT 93,
WHOSE BRAVE SACRAFICE ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001,

NOT ONLY SAVED COUNTLESS LIVES
BUT MAY HAVE SAVED THE U.S. CAPITOL FROM DESTRUCTION”

This plaque then lists the passengers and crew of flight 93. Overall, it was a joyful experience to tour the Capitol Building led by Rep. Val Hoyle. However, this plaque was a reminder of those who fought and sacrificed their lives to defend our nation and the central symbol of our democracy, the U.S. Capitol Building.

A highlight of the tour was standing on the floor of the House Chamber, also known as the “Hall of the House of Representatives.” The room looked and felt smaller than all the times I saw it on TV for the President’s State of the Union Address and other Congressional proceedings. It is such a sacred space that the security guard insisted that we all had to leave our cell phones and cameras outside the chamber in the Speaker’s Lobby. It was by the glass doors that I felt more sadness. I was standing by the spot where a U.S. Capitol Police Officer fatally shot Ashli Babbitt on January 6th. The United States Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia investigation later concluded that the Police Officer did not commit any violations when he reasonably believed “it was necessary to do so in self-defense or in defense of the Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber.”

Ashli Babbitt was part of the riot mob attempting to storm into the House Chamber as Congress counted the Electoral College votes to certify that Joe Biden won the Presidency over Donald Trump. Members of Congress were still in the U.S. House Chamber as rioters attempted to enter the Speaker’s Chamber and then the Chamber to possibly harm them.

It was a heartbreaking tragedy that Ashli Babbitt lost her life refusing to accept Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Instead, she believed the Big Lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 election, but it was stolen from him. She then participated in the January 6th insurrection to try to overturn the results of a free and fair election. She could still be alive today if she had made different life choices in January 2021. Trump asked the mob, including Ashli Babbitt, to come to Washington, D.C. on January 6th. Ashli was a responsible adult accountable for her own actions. Yet, Trump urging her and thousands of others to come to Washington, D.C. to protest the election results that ultimately caused the loss of her life. I quietly pointed out the spot where Ashli Babbitt died to a couple of CCL Oregon friends who were also on the tour. They did not know what to say when I noted that bit of history.

I saw more reminders of January 6th during the tour. I saw a window that looks out into an outside porch that was probably broken and breach by the January 6th insurrectionists. I recognized from TV some of the hallways where the rioters walked through in mass and where the video footage showed on January 6th where members of Congress ran to escape. Rep. Hoyle did a wonderful job leading the tour and sharing many historical tidbits along the way. However, I finally had to ask her near the end of the tour if she knew much about the damage from the January 6th attacks. She stated she did not have any information. To her credit, she was first elected to Congress in November 2022 and did not assume office until January 2023. Thus, she did not have any comments or have any interest to say anything about January 6th.

The dark shadow of January 6th was present for those with searing memories of seeing it on TV, like me. We cannot forget the 5 members of the U.S. Capitol Police lost their lives, plus 140 Officers were injured, defending the Capitol that day from the insurrection. Besides January 6th, I felt the U.S. Capitol had not fully reckoned with its past by continuing to have statues of proslavery individuals such as John C. Calhoun and Sam Houston, and a statue to Jefferson Davis, who served as President of the Confederancy during the Civil War. In 2020, after the killing of George Floyd, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for the removal of statues associated with the Confederancy. She believed the statues, donated by states, pay “homage to hate, not heritage.”

Highlights of the Artwork and History of the Guided Tour of the U.S. Capitol

Even with the U.S. Capitol showing the shortcomings of recent and distant U.S. history, I was amazed by so much I saw during the tour. It felt sublime for me to stand in National Statuary Hall, the meeting place of the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 50 years (1807–1857). This was the room where Abraham Lincoln served as a member of Congress from Illinois for a single term from 1847 to 1849. With its shiny white and black checkered marbled floor, grey glistening marbled columns with red satin curtains with gold edges draped behind the columns. Standing above was a curved bright white ceiling with gold coffered squares evenly placed to give it a more regal look. Even placed were statues from the states giving Statuary Hall its name. In this room, I liked seeing the statues of Civil Rights Leader Daisy Lee Gatson Bates, Robert Fulton, Amelia Earhart, Chief Standing Bear, Rosa Parks, and Barry Goldwater.

After we walked through Statuary Hall, Rep. Hoyle next showed us the old the Speaker’s Room of the U.S. Capitol. It is the room where former President and then Representative John Quincy Adams died on February 23, 1848. Today, it is known as the Lindy Claiborne Boggs Congressional Women’s Reading Room. Since 1962, the suite is exclusively used by the Congresswomen of the House. Women of both political parties use this room. Head shot photos of all the female members of Congress greeted us as we entered this room.

Rep. Hoyle then led us to a hallway that had busts of former Vice Presidents, such as Richard “Dick” Cheney and Albert Gore, Jr. It was a joyful moment for me to see the bust of Al Gore. I finally saw a bust or statue of a historical figure in the U.S. Capitol of someone I had met. It was one of the highlights of my life meeting and getting my photo with former Vice President Al Gore at the Climate Reality Cedar Rapids Training in May 2015.

When I saw the Academy Award winning documentary about Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, at the movie theatre in Ashland, Oregon in 2006, it inspired me to become a climate activist and organizer. I created this website, Climatechangecomedian.com in 2010. I started this blog in February 2011. I gave my first climate change evening program as a park ranger at Crater Lake National Park in August 2011. I joined CCL in May 2012. A few months later, I attended a Climate Reality Project Training led by Al Gore in San Francisco, CA in August 2012. In a sense, I was at the Capitol attending this tour because Al Gore inspired me to get involved in the climate movement and participate in CCL Congressional Lobby Days. His bust was in the Capitol because of his work as Vice President of the United States from 1993-2001. I will always be grateful to him for inspiring me and countless others to become active in the climate movement.

Another hallway had paintings commemorating the first people of color to service in Congress, such as Joseph Rainey – the first African American sworn into Congress in 1870, Patsy Takemoto Mink – the first woman of color and first Asian American woman elected to Congress in 1964, and Shirley Chisholm – the first African American woman elected to Congress in 1968.

After seeing all these hallways, rooms, and artwork in the U.S. Capitol, it was time to head back to Rep. Hoyle’s office to pick up my backpack and suit jacket. As I left Rep. Hoyle’s office, I thanked her for the tour, and she posed for selfie photo with me. I then asked her if she would be seeing my Rep. Maxine Dexter soon. She responded yes because they serve together on the House Committee on Natural Resources. I then inquired if she could thank Maxine for her time meeting with our group of volunteers earlier that day.

Rep. Hoyle then smiled and shot back sarcastically, “Her time!”

I then felt embarrassed and sheepishly replied, “Of course, I really appreciate for your time to give this tour this evening.”

Even though I flubbed badly this interaction with Congresswoman Hoyle, I will always be grateful for her time and enthusiasm to be part of her guided tour of the U.S. Capitol building.

I visited all 50 U.S. states and took many public tours of historical buildings, monuments, and national parks. This guided tour of the U.S. Capitol, which is an iconic symbol of American democracy, led by Rep. Val Hoyle, was one of the best public tours I experienced. If you get an opportunity to take a tour of the Capitol Building, especially with a member of Congress, do it!

I then left Rep. Hoyle’s office with some of the other Oregon CCL volunteers. We walked in front of the east side of the U.S. Capitol to head back to the Union Station Metro stop. The U.S. Capitol Dome light up the night with the bright lights shining on it like a beacon light for American ideals on this quiet July evening.

Final thoughts from my Trip to Washington D.C. July 19-23, 2025

My trip to Washington D.C. was completed. It was time to take the D.C. Metro back to Tom and Reena’s house in Tacoma Park, Maryland to visit with them for one last evening. This was my 11th time lobbying in Washington D.C. Each time I lobby there is an unforgettable adventure. I hope to lobby there again, but there’s no guarantees. This trip was probably one of my best lobby experiences with my first face-to-face Washington D.C. lobby meeting with my member of Congress, Rep. Maxine Dexter and the tour of the U.S. Capitol led by Congresswoman Val Hoyle.

The next day, Wednesday July 23rd, I was off to my next escapade. I was flying from Washington D.C. to Cincinnati, Ohio to meet up with my friend Mark Deeter. We then drove to Cedar Point Amusement Park northern Ohio to ride roller coasters on Thursday, July 24th. We then planned to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio on Friday, July 25th, before I headed back to Portland to reunite with my wife Tanya on July 26th.

Is it still worth it to travel to Washington D.C. to lobby for climate action in the era of Donald Trump? My response is ABSOLUTELY!