The D.C. National Guard is paying nearly double the going rate in order to house hundreds of troops in high-end Georgetown who are deployed to Washington after the Capitol riot. That placement puts some of them 4 miles closer to the legislative hall than comparable suburban hotels costing 40% less.
Guard members from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and California have been staying at four Georgetown hotels since late January and early February, the Washington Examiner confirmed Tuesday by speaking to Guard members and hotel staff in English- and Spanish-language interviews.
Guard members were also observed entering and exiting three of the four hotels, and they confirmed they were staying there.
At one hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn, the Guard had 180 rooms booked for Feb. 2-16 at a negotiated rate of $149 per night. Comparable hotels outside the district offer cheaper rooms: The Hilton Arlington in Virginia charges $93 per night, and the Hilton Garden Inn Bethesda in Maryland charges $99 per night.
The Arlington and Bethesda hotels are 4 and 6 miles further from the U.S. Capitol, respectively. The price difference amounts to tens of thousands of dollars extra each day at taxpayer expense, according to online searches conducted late Tuesday afternoon.
A receptionist at the Hilton Garden Inn in Georgetown who spoke to the Washington Examiner said normal rates range from $149-$220 per night and that the Guard had negotiated the lowest fare.
Guard members were observed changing shifts at one Georgetown hotel in three rented Coach USA buses, and they confirmed the buses were how they are escorted to and from the Capitol.
Guard members told the Washington Examiner that all meals were provided, either catered and delivered to their hotels or brought to them at their work sites.
National Guard Bureau spokesman Maj. Matt Murphy said Monday that the D.C. National Guard negotiates the room rates for the mission, which now consists of about 6,000 soldiers and airmen.
“It would not surprise me. That’s pretty close to the area,” he said when told Guard members are being housed at Georgetown hotels.
“When they do contracted hotels like that, it’s a contracted government rate,” he explained. “It’s a rate that the D.C. Guard negotiated, but it’s going to be within the per diem standards.”
The negotiated rate in Georgetown given to the Washington Examiner falls within government per diem rates for hotels in the Washington area. The approved government rate is $188 per night in February and $258 in March, nearer to school breaks and the popular cherry blossom season in the capital.
When asked for specific per-night hotel costs the D.C. National Guard is paying in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, spokesman Capt. Tinashe Machona referred questions to the Department of the Army.
“All of the approximately 6,200 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen supporting the security mission in Washington, D.C., have appropriate accommodations, most in local hotels, which they use when not on duty,” he said.
Machona cited operational security in declining to disclose what cities, neighborhoods, and hotels Guard members are staying at in the Washington area.
‘It was brutal’
Guard members who spoke to the Washington Examiner said they are being well taken care of, morale was high, and they believed in the security mission they are executing.
A 28-year-old Pennsylvania Army National Guard member from near Allentown said he volunteered for the mission after what he observed Jan. 6, when the U.S. Capitol was breached by pro-Trump rioters.
“To defend the nation for what happened in January,” he said after extinguishing a cigarette outside his hotel. “It was brutal, the whole storming, and what they did to that Capitol Police officer.”
A U.S. Capitol Police officer died after being beaten by protesters Jan. 6. More than 100 other officers suffered injuries.
The five-year Guard veteran could not say if the pay he was earning, combined with housing allowance for his wife and three children, was more than what he would earn as a mechanic back home, but he believed a threat still existed. Guard members are not active-duty troops; they have day jobs and live with their families in cities across the country.
A Guard member from New Jersey told the Washington Examiner that morale was high and Guard members were being well taken care of.
“The food’s good. They’re taking care of us,” he said. “They’re keeping morale high with leadership activities.”
That Guard member declined to discuss threat assessments other than to say he was being briefed on security multiple times each day.
Impeachment security
Early Tuesday morning, the day former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial began in the Senate, troops were observed conducting additional security on vehicles entering a vast perimeter surrounding the Capitol and nearby federal buildings.
Cones were set up for vehicles waiting to enter, and additional streets were closed. Bomb-sniffing dogs were also on hand.
The Department of Defense revealed Monday that the deployment that began Jan. 6 and continues through March 15 will cost $483 million, $284 million for personnel costs, and $199 million for operations. The figures were revealed following a question posed by the Washington Examiner.
Still, many members of Congress believe there is no longer a threat to the U.S. Capitol and that fences should be taken down and Guard members sent home. The governors of Texas, Florida, and other states have already called home their Guard members, as is their authority.
“There are still 5,000 troops this huge perimeter with razor wire. This isn’t really a great image for a free country or for our country,” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said on Fox News on Jan. 29. “So, I say the sooner it’s torn down, the better.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Guard members at the Capitol recently to thank them for their service and reinforce his confidence in the mission.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters last week that Austin wants to get the Guard back home as soon as possible — but sees a clear need for them inside the capital city.
“We also have what we still consider to be a valid requirement for their assistance,” he said of requests by the Secret Service, Park Police, Capitol Police, and D.C. Metropolitan Police for Guard support. “And we’re going to have to, you know, continue to meet that.”
