WASHINGTON (CNN) — Several hundred protesters camped out Tuesday on the National Mall, and dozens more from around the country headed to join them for a new movement calling itself “Take Back the Capitol.”

Borrowing language from the Occupy movement and drawing demonstrators “from Occupy sites from coast to coast,” the movement says its goal is to affect congressional legislation.

“For far too long, Congress has been catering to the 1% instead of representing the 99%,” the movement says on its website, 99indc.org. Protesters will push Congress to renew unemployment insurance and will focus on “other important budget and tax measures,” the website says.

“Now more than ever, Congress needs to see us and hear us.”

The group is calling its setup “The People’s Camp.”

Some groups of protesters went to lawmakers’ offices Tuesday.

About 25 people visited the office of Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland. He spoke to the group outside his office and told them he sympathizes with the unemployed.

The group also went to a conference room outside the office of another Maryland Democrat, Rep. Steny Hoyer, and spoke to his aides.

“I hear you loud and clear,” a staffer for Hoyer told the group, assuring them “we’ll take that back to the congressman.”

One group of protesters said they planned to conduct a sit-in at the office of Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Republican Whip.

Many of the protesters gathering Tuesday in Washington were older than the largely young crowds at many Occupy events.

The protesters include union members.

“Take Back the Capitol” is in part an outgrowth of the movement to protect collective bargaining that started in Wisconsin.

The movement says thousands of people signed up to join the protest, being organized “by a wide variety of community, labor, Occupy, and other groups around the country.”

The official website links to SEIU.org, the website of Service Employees International Union, which says it is the fastest-growing union in North America.

“We’re making congressional office visits all this week to make Congress listen to #the99%,” SEIU tweeted Tuesday.

The event began Monday and continues through Friday.