New Capitol center draws both praise and major criticism

Construction cost of the 580,000-square-foot center doubled to $621 million.

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The new Capitol Visitor Center opened this month as a shrine to the legislative branch, presenting a polished version of Congress that leaves little room for cynicism — though plenty of space for bathrooms.

It arrived four years late and more than $300 million over budget, causing some lawmakers to fume and the Government Accountability Office to offer countless oversight reports and hours of critical testimony. Taxpayer watchdog groups called the center a boondoggle, and some critics worry that the center is another step in trying to keep legislators away from the public.

“I think it’s a monstrosity,” said Rep. Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican. “It confirms what so many people believe about Washington excess.”

However, tourists who wandered its cavernous space early this month praised the center. They marveled at the 11-foot replica of the Capitol dome and leaned close to study the plaster model of the Statue of Freedom that sits atop the real dome.

The center was conceived in the 1990s as an indoor stopping place for tourists who’d long suffered in long lines outdoors through the cold of winter and humid summer swelter on their way inside to tour the Capitol itself.

The project broke ground ceremoniously in 2000, though construction didn’t begin until 2002. Over the years, members of Congress just kept adding on. There were security updates in the wake of the shooting deaths of two U.S. Capitol police officers in 1998 and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

By the time the first tourists poured inside on its first day, the cost of the Capitol Visitor Center had more than doubled, to $621 million. More than just an air-conditioned underground sanctum, it features 26 restrooms, a restaurant and two gift shops, and encompasses 580,000 square feet of space — more than a third of the Capitol itself.

“It’s beautiful. I think it’s money well spent,” said Covie Herrera, 68, of Santa Teresa, N.M. “If they’re going to spend money, make it for the people. And this is for the people.”

Tourists descend below the Capitol’s east front and enter the great Emancipation Hall, where they can look up at the real Capitol dome through skylights and can wait to begin a 13-minute introductory movie in one of two theaters, with showings assigned to the minute.

“It’s spectacular,” said Ron Sellon of Boston, in town with his wife and two children, ages 5 and 7. “We’ve heard horror stories about the lines before and the uncomfortable waiting. This is just amazing.”

Behind the giant hall, a darkened room holds the Wall of Aspirations — curving marble walls housing original and copies of historic documents, including the Medicare Act of 1965 and James Madison’s 1789 notes on the Bill of Rights.

Leaning over the second-story railing on the center’s opening week, David Payne, a superintendent with the New York construction company that worked on the security system, clutched floor plans and proclaimed the center a success.

“We did a good job,” said Payne, who helped with door locks, metal screening and other security projects over the past two months. He was there to review final details.

Payne called the criticism about cost overruns “greatly exaggerated” and said it mostly had to do with new House and Senate offices unavailable to the public.

“They’ve got a whole ’nother city over there,” Payne said, waving his hand toward the closed doors marked “authorized persons only.”

“There’s a lot of area that’s for the use of Congress. There’s more of that than there is for the public.”

Office space on the House side includes a two-story hearing room with a three-tiered dais but no space for the public. On the Senate side, a spiraling staircase leads downstairs. Somewhere back there is a high-security room for lawmakers to review top-secret documents.

Nearby, a new tunnel leads directly to the Library of Congress.

“You know how many times a day members of Congress go to the Library of Congress to research our speeches?” Kingston quipped.

He and other critics still aren’t happy with the Capitol Visitor Center. And some fear it could become an excuse for Congress, in the name of security, to keep the public out of the Capitol itself.

“The destination should be the Capitol, not the Capitol Visitor Center,” Ellis said. “My concern is that the visitor center will become an impediment to visiting the Capitol.”