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August 23, 2011 2:31 PM
ABC News' Devin Dwyer (@devindwyer) reports:
The U.S. Capitol, Pentagon, State Department and surrounding buildings all emptied today following a 5.9 earthquake that sent government workers scrambling.
Sirens sounded outside U.S. House office buildings on the south side of Capitol Hill as staffers in neon yellow "floor warden" vests directed workers away from their offices.
Police officers said they were ordered to evacuate all of the U.S. Capitol complex.
All congressional buildings have been evacuated and will remain closed until "structural assessment" of each is conducted. Those inspections are underway now, with more teams on the way, said Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider at 3:46 pm ET.
�"We've got a lot of buildings, a lot of floors to cover," she said, providing no estimate yet for when they will reopen.
The police department as been "hampered" in quickly being able to coordinate with other agencies by "signals jammed," she said. But operations within the department on the Hill were going smoothly.�
At the Pentagon and State Department, workers also streamed outside, though not under an official evacuation order.
Hundreds of people were outside of the Pentagon after the tremors were felt when minutes later, an alarm was sounding in the hallways telling Pentagon employees that a pipe had burst due to the earthquake and there was ?significant standing water? on an upper floor area of the building.� People who work in that immediate area are being told to avoid it.
But despite that announcement, Pentagon police later informed staff to return to their offices.
The Pentagon-wide alarm system was installed after this building was targeted during September 11th.
Meanwhile, across the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., the State Department was also not under evacuation orders. No instructions were given over the loudspeakers throughout the building and Diplomatic Security confirms there is no requirement to leave.
�That said, many employees left the building on their own. One security guard, who perhaps suspected there might be a formal evacuation order coming soon, told people they may not be allowed back into the building if they leave.
�The State Dept?s daily briefing had just ended when the quake hit. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is on vacation in New York and not in the building.
ABC News' Luis Martinez and Kirit Radia contributed to this report.
August 23, 2011 in Devin Dwyer | Permalink | Share | User Comments (16)
Too bad the Senate wasn't in session.... it would have been the largest sign of "movement" there for 10 months!!
Posted by: TheLoyalOpposition | Aug 23, 2011 3:00:02 PM
Hello America and Concerned Citizensnow the whole country is going to spend the next month talking about this stupid little earthquake, so the Washiington monument is tilted we ain't spending any money to fix it. while we have a real Looming Earthqauke set for January 01, 2012 the, U.S. Default Deadline January 01, 2012.
well I have been giving it some thought while Barrack Obama continues his 2012 Campaign and Vacation Tour of Martha's Vineyard (actually he has been on vacation for the last three years).
we aught to give it some serious consideration, about which direction we should be pursuing? to get our nation back on its proper track. with the help of our Tea Party representatives in the House, we have been able to curtail the excessive spending. Now Ben Bernake of the FED wants to lower the FED interest rates back to zero f...or the next two years and continue to print worthless money, I was talking with a banker the other day at the annual Community Picnic , and asked him what he thought about the FED. for most of us mainstreet folk the FED and its relationship to our goverment is wrapped in alot of mystery, the FED as I understand it, is and isn't, a true branch of the U.S. Goverment. its basically a lot of rich Banks many of them Foreign that collectively have the U.S. goverment supporting its non failure by FDIC Insurance, well its a little more complicated than that and maybe someone in the Banking feild will explain it a little clearer to us. but what became apparent to me is that everytime the U.S. Treasury needs money they simply print it.
" Article. I.
Section. 8.
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;.
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;.
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;.
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;.
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;.
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;.
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;.
Section. 10.
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility."
ok lets look at a few thing here from the laymen,
"make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts".
basically the Gold Standard, well it was argued that since foreign countries started stealing U.S. coinage, that it could no longer be made of Gold or Silver,
and that's a good argument, at one time they did print the Silver Certificate that was to be exchanged for Silver at any U.S. Bank on demand.
now most of our money is Air money backed only by The Wind of the U.S. Treasury,
actually most of the current money is electronic or exists only on the Electronic circuit boards of Banks and the Wall Street Stock Market.
now it is well known that countries like Iraq and Pakistan, and many others have collected up Billions of U.S. currency, in fact Saddam Hussein had Semi-Tractor loads of U.S. Currency. so when the U.S. Treasury prints more of their Air currency it might well end up in Mexico or Iran. and also The Stock Market and foreign stockholders may attempt to trade their Electronic Currency for real U.S. Dollars. anyway we can see how complex the issue is, we know the U.S. is currently $15000 Billion Dollars in Debt, if this Electronic debt is converted into real U.S. currency the results are and will be catastrophic for mainstreet Americans of the Tea Party. if the U.S. defaults on its loans which is inevitable, that debt must not be converted to anything of Real Value. sorry I'm getting long winded here, and nothing really resolved., but we have stated a part of the economic problem. as I see it the only solution maybe to sell of Martha's Vineyard and send Martha out to get some real work and quit sponging off of Working Americans. sincerely Fezzy Bear.
p.s. by the way this is not a Battle between the TEA Party and The Republican Party hopefully Orrin can continue his good effort in the Senate, but what we have here is a War between Mainstreet Americans and The FED or The Wall Street Bankers.See More
Posted by: Fezzy Bear | Aug 23, 2011 3:14:41 PM
More Time than Money! and we are even running out of that.
Posted by: Fezzy Bear | Aug 23, 2011 3:21:08 PM
Washington Monument is now The Leaning Tower Of Pizza!
Posted by: Fezzy Bear | Aug 23, 2011 3:23:16 PM
No, you are running out of money. lots of people are doing just fine.
Posted by: Just Saying | Aug 23, 2011 3:25:09 PM
Lots of People in Martha's Vineyard, I Know thats what this whole argument is about. Martha has been stealing money for years to keep her vineyard afloat. Just visit Hyannus Port, just off of Uncle Roberts Road, and you will see where all of Americas money has gone.
Posted by: Fezzy Bear | Aug 23, 2011 3:39:42 PM
To paraphrase Fezzy Bear: The earthquake is Obama's fault.
Posted by: Moopy | Aug 23, 2011 3:43:26 PM
In Fact while we are on the subject, you will carefully note, that the only place in the United States where the people are shouting to Barrack Obama, Four More Years, are the people of Martha's Vineyard people who are constantly on the silver plate of Barrack Obama, because on his recent campaign tour of Iowa the common folk ran him out of the state.
Posted by: Fezzy Bear | Aug 23, 2011 3:44:39 PM
It's one way to shake things up in D.C.
Maybe this is just a prelude.
Posted by: MikeBell | Aug 23, 2011 3:47:18 PM
And no I don't completely blame Barrack Obama, he's probably a very funny charismatic fellow, I actually blame the Late Ted Kennedy for our current state of affairs.
Posted by: Fezzy Bear | Aug 23, 2011 3:47:39 PM
When I look at all those unemployed poor folk in Augusta, Georgia, standing in long lines and the sun for hours without end, hoping for a job interview, all I can say is there but for the grace of God go I, and then to watch Barrack Obama golfing his days in office away frivoulously. its almost more than we can bare.
Posted by: Fezzy Bear | Aug 23, 2011 3:59:37 PM
I'm Just Sayin, why doesn't Barrack Obama, resign and let some compitant people run the goverment, and No We Cann't, No We Cann't, take Four More years of barrack Obama
Posted by: Fezzy Bear | Aug 23, 2011 4:03:26 PM
because one individual, even the president, is not capable of changing an entire country, if you want real change (I don't know if it would be good or bad change) you have to get all the representitives, senators, judges and so on and so on to get actual change, if not another figurehead will take office (regardless of party) and things will go on as usual.
Posted by: Just Saying | Aug 23, 2011 4:25:50 PM
It's nothing to worry about. It's just 0bama's poll numbers plummeting to the ground.
Posted by: TexBork | Aug 23, 2011 4:38:39 PM
So, the quake happened right along Bush's Fault line, eh?
Posted by: TexBork | Aug 23, 2011 6:05:54 PM
The slip plain near Washington where this occurred will forever be named the "Obama Fault"!
Posted by: Common _ Sense | Aug 23, 2011 6:17:53 PM
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