Capitol center inspires awe at its size, cost

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

It arrived four years late and more than $300 million over budget. Taxpayer watchdog groups called the center a boondoggle, and some critics worry that the center further separates legislators from the public.

"I think it's a monstrosity," said U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican. "It confirms what so many people believe about Washington excess."

But 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 U.S. Capitol dome.

On the center's second day, pupils from three fifth-grade classes in Greensboro showed up in matching red sweatshirts, carrying cameras and craning their necks toward the skylight.

"I think the center is just fabulous," said Donna Shapiro, a fifth-grade teacher at Jesse Wharton Elementary School in Greensboro. "It is worth it. All the children are so excited that we get to see a new part of the Capitol."

The center was conceived in the 1990s as an indoor stopping place for tourists who had long suffered outdoors in the winter cold or summer heat while waiting to tour the Capitol.

By the time the first tourists arrived, the Capitol Visitor Center's price tag was $621 million. It features 26 restrooms, a restaurant and two gift shops, and encompasses 580,000 square feet --more than a third of the size of the U.S. Capitol.

What you'll see

Tourists descend below the Capitol and enter Emancipation Hall, where they can view the Capitol dome through skylights as they wait for a 13-minute introductory movie.

"It's spectacular," said Ron Sellon of Boston, who was in town with his wife and two young 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 documents and copies of historic manuscripts, including the Medicare Act of 1965 and James Madison's 1789 notes on the Bill of Rights. Among Madison's suggestions: Make North Carolina a state.

Visitors can watch films on the workings of the House and Senate, during which they can try to spot their own representatives and hear about how members serve the public.

"A lot of it has as much to do with congressional ego as it has to do with the needs of their constituents," said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group in Washington.

Ever-growing project

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

Leaning over the second-story railing on the center's opening week, David Payne, a superintendent with the Manhattan construction company that worked on the security system, proclaimed the center a success.

"We did a good job," he said. Payne called 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 toward 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. On the Senate side, a spiral staircase leads downstairs. Somewhere back there is a high-security room for lawmakers to review top-secret documents.

Next stop, the Capitol

Some critics fear the center could become an excuse for Congress, in the name of security, to keep the public out of the Capitol.

"The destination should be the Capitol, not the Capitol Visitor Center," Ellis said.

For now, it's the first stop on the larger tour of the Capitol.

The Greensboro students saw the movie, but what many remembered was the Capitol itself, with the old Senate chamber, the historic tiled floors, the frieze in the rotunda.

"The rotunda -- it's really cool," said Ryan Daw, 10.

That fascination with history is what members of Congress hope to see in their constituents, said Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat.

"I'm sorry it took $600 million to get it completed. ... But it makes a very powerful statement about the U.S. Capitol," Butterfield said. "There is a history to this body that must be honored."