After years of delay and hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns, the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center (CVC) opened last December. There have been the expected grumblings about the costs and the building, but now Congress itself is beginning to grumble about the new controls and what some members see as a rewriting of history.
All in all, the CVC is a magnificent constuction effort. Mind you, what visitors see is only about a third of the total underground building. Its size is mindboggling — the center is approximately three quarters the size of the Capitol itself. The structure is a bunker with meeting rooms and special air filtration where Congress can continue to function even if under attack.
The current controversy is not about the underground building itself but about the message that the CVC sends and the restrictions on access that the new center has imposed.
In a floor speech this week, Congressman Ted Poe, from Texas, took the Architect of the Capitol to task for making entrance to the Capitol harder that ever and ignoring the perogatives of Representatives and Senators — they, or their staff, can not personally take visitors through the Capitol according to the new rules.
Rep. Poe railed against the new rules:
Mr. Speaker, there was once a time when a family would come from my district. They would show up at my office and they would ask to see the Capitol. Myself or a staffer would bring them over to the Capitol, take them through these mighty halls by showing them the statues of the two famous people from Texas, Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, giving them a peek at the Old Supreme Court Chamber and could spend as much time in this building as they wanted to. But no more. Apparently the good ol’ times have been replaced by censored, controlled tours which can only be given by CVC-trained staff — the Red Coats.
Member offices have little control over scheduling tours. Once in a while someone will just show up in my office and they want to see this building. It is their first and only trip to Washington. You can’t do that anymore. You have to get on a list and you have to make that request a month ahead of time, at least before you can come into this building. Those “drop in” days are over, unfortunately, because the Red Coat police are in charge, and if they walk through the building and they get off the tour, the Red Coat Police dress them down.
He went on to decry the new “training” required for anyone escorting visitors through the Capitol, “… before a staff member can even help on a tour of this Capitol that person must attend a 6 hour or 2 day long propaganda school given by the CVC Red Coats.
He also echoed the concerns of other Congressmen and Senators about the sanitized version of American history that is presented in the displays of the museum and in the introduction video.
The actual tour that everybody must see before they come into this building starts with an opening video given by the Red Coats. It is a controlled and censored video and a controlled and censored trip through this building. The theme opens in the video by saying that the national motto of the United States is “E Pluribus Unum,” which means, according to the video, “Out of Many, One.”
Well, Mr. Speaker, I must have missed something. I thought that the United State’s motto was directly above your head, which says “In God We Trust.” But not according to the Red Coats. They just changed the national motto on their own. There is, in fact, no mention of those words or the religious history of our country in the entire CVC complex. This includes their exhibit halls which are supposed to chronicle the real history of America. But the Red Coats have rewritten the history of the United States and omitted religion or any reference to God.
Long before the new CVC opened, the Architect of the Capitol was warned by staff members about taking away the rights of Representatives, Senators and their staffs to give tours. There was an understanding expressed from the workers at the AOC who interacted with the legislators regularly that this would not sit well with the House and Senate members. However the CVC powers that be consciously decided to restrict Capitol tours to CVC tours and those run by CVC-trained tour guides.
So, be fore-warned — walking into your Senator’s or Congressperson’s office won’t score a visit to the Capitol. Everyone (at least for now) has to sign up for a tour through the CVC.
For more information (as presented by the Capitol Visitors Center itself) visit their website — www.visitthecapitol.gov.
To make advanced reservations for a CVC tour go to — http://tours.visitthecapitol.gov/.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Well I live here – just 6 blocks from the Capitol. Having enjoyed several tours done by Congressional Staff over the years, I was VERY disappointed by the “professional” tour I had in early February in the new Visitor’s Center. The Red Coats do know their stuff – unfortunately, they are giving a very “abbreviated” tour and they now restrict access to most of the Capitol where in years past you could pretty much get anywhere you want….
As someone who lives here – I am very disappointed with the exterior design – quite a few of the materials used do not go with those used on the Capitol itself and a HUGE chunk of the landscaped area is now gone – as are many of our glorious 100+ year old trees. The interior is a very, very large empty space – useful for catering events, but really if they hadn’t created that cavernous hall, they could have left more parkland outside and above!
Wait – whose the boss here? Can’t Congress just pass a law exempting they and their staff from the rules imposed by the redcoats?
What is it about the Redcoats? I thought they surrendered at Yorktown?
The Tour Guides wear red (almost burgundy blazers) and other staff wear the same color polo shirts…
The entire Visitors’ Center was an (over)reaction to 9/11. It had been planned for years at about 30% of the cost and half the size and then 9/11 happened and the thing just grew and grew and grew! And then for Security concerns (supposedly) the management of this new Visitors’ Center was given priority in setting rules over the Congress. Many of you may not know this, but the Bush Administration rammed through all sorts of security related spending in DC (this is just one project) – we’ve got bollards and barriers in front of just about every Federal building, and pop up road blocks all over the place – it really has changed the character of the neighborhood and not for the better. I’m not saying don’t have security, but they have gone overboard. here’s and example – they have installed these special sidewalks on Independence Avenue between 14th and 12th Streets – these sidewalks are really bumpy and they are extremely uncomfortable to walk/stnad on. They did this to discourage people from gathering there in large groups. To be honest, no one ever would gather there- there is nothing but the Agriculture Department on either side…no reason to protest or watch a parade there – it’s just stupid.
How sad we must have an appointment to visit something with which our ancestors fought so hard and died to protect and defend.
Hmmm… why does this sound just like the “official” Disney world tours, where the tour guides wear one of the original Disney costumes: a plaid vest. They are known derisively throughout the Magic Kingdom as “The Plaids” and, not unlike The RedCoats, are a law unto themselves. Whoa…maybe they unfroze Walt to construct the new CVC. I smell “National Treasure 3″ in the making!
Just made my first trip to DC and agree that the tour is awful. My husband and I successfully “walked up” and got a tour spot pretty easily though. They really run you through like cattle and don’t give you a chance to see everything. In the rotunda, for example, the guide rattles off what each painting is and then herds you into the next room without giving you a chance to see any of them other than the one your group is standing next to. When we got to statuary hall, we learned our lesson and made a marathon lap around the room to see all the statues while the guide gave her spiel before we were herded out.
The video is pretty sanitized, although we were able to pick out at least one unsanitary law. The video shows names of laws on the screen and they did have the Indian Removal Act. I was actually pretty shocked because I didn’t think they would put anything negative in there by the tone of the video to that point.
You are still required to visit your representative or senator’s office to get a gallery pass if you want to see either gallery. The folks that run the gallery viewing are not “redcoats.” They were really nice (our redcoat guide was nice also). They were very courteous and let us take our time, which was pretty calming compared to the tour.