A huge inflatable rubber duckie inhabited the northeast corner of the Capitol grounds Wednesday morning. Passersby and a wide-eyed junior high field trip group looked on as people dressed as Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Harry Reid and John Boehner danced around it to circus music. The stunt, set up by Oxfam, was meant to show support for Congress maintaining foreign aid in the 2013 budget. Oxfam spokeswoman Linda Delgado expressed concern that Congress will cut funding for poverty programs in the name of deficit reduction during this lame-duck session.

Such stunts are typical of Oxfam, which had volunteers dress up as members of the budget supercommittee last year. Delgado says the rubber duckie idea was born out of a brainstorming session of three or four employees. "Oxfam tends to be very positive," she said, though a few people had pushed for more dramatic, negative displays. "You know, dead people, starving people," Delgado explained. "But we don't do that."