After the policy riders in the budget deal agreed to by members of Congress last week, local Medicaid money can no longer be used to pay for abortion care in the District of Columbia.

But advocacy groups in D.C. weren't expecting it to cut off as soon as it did.

About 100 protesters used Emancipation Day to underscore that the District is still under the thumb of congress. Three protesters, including shadow Sen. Michael Brown, sat in the street and blocked traffic in front of the Senate's Hart Building. They were later arrested.

A group in D.C. that helps women pay for abortion care discovered late Wednesday night that local Medicaid dollars could no longer be applied, effective immediately.

• From Capitol News Connection. The House is poised to close shrinking window so it can open a very big door.

"Will you represent us?" It's a question that D.C. residents may have grown tired of asking of lawmakers. But a new calling campaign urges them to ask that very question to a random sampling Congress members from around the country.

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray says more actions are being planned to bring attention to the city's lack of autonomy.

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and 40 others have been released after they were arrested Monday on Capitol Hill after they sat down in the middle of Constitution Avenue to protest the budget riders or policy announcements included in the federal budget deal that lawmakers struck to avert a government shutdown.

D.C. Mayor Vince Gray says he thinks Democrats shouldn't have compromised on the issues affecting the District in Friday's last-minute Congressional budget deal, even if it would have meant a shutdown. But he quickly clarified on WAMU's Morning Edition that D.C. "shouldn’t have been the compromise."

"The issue is, it was not necessary to include the District in this in the first place," Gray said in an interview.

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and several members of the City Council were arrested for civil disobedience after taking part in a protest Monday on Capitol Hill to voice their opposition to the budget deal reached by Congress.

City officials say Washington was used as a pawn in last week's budget bargaining, with new restrictions part of the price of a deal.