Duck Ramps Appear at U.S. Capitol, but Not Everyone Is Pleased

[brooklynite]

New York Times:

Political turmoil rocked the nation’s capital again on Tuesday evening as politicians from both parties responded to President Trump’s — you know what, never mind. This is a story about ducks.

Ducklings, to be precise. Ducklings walking up a ramp and stepping off it into the waters of the Capitol Reflecting Pool, which can be difficult for them to do unassisted because they are very small.

The two ramps at the reflecting pool are a new feature whose arrival Monday attracted attention (from humans, at least) only after a congressman voiced his displeasure. This is happening in Washington, after all, so it may not surprise you to hear that the duck ramps were controversial.

The ramps were installed by the Architect of the Capitol, an office that acts as the steward of the historic buildings and grounds on Capitol Hill. Shortly after they went up, Representative Mark Walker, Republican of North Carolina, criticized them on Twitter as a misuse of government funds.

[pangaia]

1. Mark Walker is a misuse of government funds.

[canetoad]

2. Accessibility aids

for ducks. Way to go!

[brooklynite]

3. BREAKING: Mark Walker has unveiled a NEW example of Government waste...

[Foamfollower]

4. OFFS, Mark Walker needs to lose re-election.

[CurtEastPoint]

5. Typical GOP asshole. Oh, and a 'pastor' as well....

[Nevernose]

6. "Those ducks can go fuck themselves!"

"Unless they're billionaires, of course."

-- an actual quote from Mark Walker (probably)

[Princess Turandot]

7. After Walker's tweet, the Architect of the Capitol tweeted out a video..

Link to tweet

LOL One guy's replies to Walker:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Luciferous]

11. That is adorable! Walker should shut the hell up.

[Doreen]

8. OK, this does not directly have anything to do with this article

but the other day I was driving and I noticed this moving line and realized it was a mama duck leading her little chicks across the road. I immediately stopped and turned on my emergency lights so people would notice that I was stopped and take more care to notice their surrounding as to hope no one ran them over. They safely made it across and people actually slowed and payed attention. It was so cute. Bridges to help animal from being hurt is the right thing to do since we are the ones taking away their natural environment. Longview Washington has some really good squirrel bridges so they do not need to run into the busy street.

[spooky3]

9. Let's see--how many bombers did we have to NOT build in order to pay for these ramps?

Maybe .0000000000001% of one?

[Leith]

10. That's the Best Thing That Has Happened at the Capitol

since rethugs got the majority.

Ducks over Walker!