Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray participates in a rally on the government shutdown at the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

On the east lawn of the Capitol, in what’s known as the “Senate Swamp,” Mayor Vincent Gray gathered with Congressional and local representatives to “demand” lawmakers free D.C.’s budget.

Gray, flanked by Councilmembers Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), called on “both Houses of Congress and the president” to allow D.C. to spends its own money. “We deserve to spend our own money,” Gray said to applause from the dozens of protestors gathered, many holding signs that referenced Medicaid.

“The question remains: Why are imperiled by the federal shutdown? And, you know, as far as I can see there has been and there is no reasonable answer to that question,” Gray said.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton asked the Obama administration to put aside its “veto threat” to allow for the Senate to take up the House’s D.C. funding resolution. “The administration’s rigid veto threat mindlessly captures the District’s local budget, which contains not one penny of federal funds, although the president’s own 2014 budget contains the permanent D.C. anti-shutdown language,” Norton said. “Yet I am reliably informed that Senate Republican leaders would not object to moving the D.C. bill though the Senate.”

Norton said the city’s situation is growing “desperate.” “The city’s previously appropriated contingency reserve fund, envisioned for unforeseen events like natural disasters, dwindles as it copes with a crisis that is as unnatural as it is artificial and unnecessary,” she said. “The District of Columbia, showing economic strength and growth the federal government can only envy, is treated like hapless collateral damage.”

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who serves as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, described D.C.’s budget as an “item caught in the middle” of Democrats’ and Republicans’ disagreements. He noted D.C.’s license plates, which read “taxation without representation,” and said they should be changed to “federal government don’t tread on me.” Issa said he sent a letter to President Obama asking him to open D.C.’s federally-controlled parks and perhaps even the National Mall. “They need to be open,” he said.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) (2nd L) speaks as Washington, DC Mayor Vincent Gray (L) and other Senate Democrats look on. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

At the end of the conference, Gray left the Swamp and walked over to a Senate press conference being held by democrats nearby. The following exchange occurred between Gray and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, according to the Post.

“Talk to the Republicans, they’re the ones objecting,” Reid said when first asked whether the Senate would vote on the measure.

With cameras rolling, Gray stood a few paces to Reid’s right staring at the Senate leader. As the news conference concluded and Reid began to walk back into the U.S. Capitol, Gray approached the Senate leader again.

“Sir, we are not a department of the government. We’re simply trying to be able to spend our own money,” the mayor said.

“I’m on your side, don’t screw it up, okay? Don’t screw it up,” Reid told Gray.