Visitor Center A $621M Boondoggle?

CBS Evening News: Capitol Project Four Years Late And More Than $300M Over Budget

(CBS)  Four years overdue, the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington D.C. opened Tuesday amid great fanfare and excitement.

"This facility here is really … terrific, for lack of a better way to describe it," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Spanning five acres 50-feet beneath the Capitol, it's got lots of "really terrific" statues, artifacts, theatres, dozens of restrooms, and even a replica of the Capitol dome above, CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

Attkisson asked one visitor, a 9-year-old boy, "Do you have any rough idea of how much something like this costs?"

"Like, uh, 100 million bucks or something like that?" said Jamie.

Actually more, Jamie. Much more.

"People are telling you it's 'really nice' inside when you go to see it, but it's $621 million - it oughta be nice!" said Steve Ellis of the nonprofit group Taxpayers for Common Sense.

It was a vision that started out at $261 million dollars; but it crossed the finish line at $621 million.

Ellis calls it Congress' ego trip, skylights and all.

"There's these skylights that are up on the plaza, and they say, 'well, it's great that you can see the dome,' you know, through the skylight, which it's like, well, you can stand right here and see the dome," Ellis said.

Taxpayers who took the tour today enjoyed it, but they know it cost them dearly.

"It was probably an exercise in government inefficiency," one said.

Another tourist said, "It really is an expensive place to visit, that's for sure. And the restaurant's not cheap either, by the way."

No matter. At least visitors to the Capitol no longer have to wait in the snow or the sweltering sun, and isn't that what really counts?

"In the summertime, because the high humidity and how hot it gets in here, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol," Reid said. "That is no longer going to be necessary."

The brand new Capitol Visitors Center? Six-hundred and twenty-one million dollars.

Not having to smell sweaty tourists? Priceless.

[parrot2ok]

Great. They spent 600 million because they think the taxpayers stink. Priceless.
Posted by magoo2u1 at 08:00 PM : Dec 02, 2008


The question is who approved this project - I fully understand it''s the dems in charge when it got completed and really what else could Reid really do ? Tear it down - for being too excessive ??

[sedean1]

What''s the big deal to 621 million? After all isn''t congress giving away billions now to Wall St and anyone else getting on line with their hand out??
Congress is lucky that the taxpayer is still there shelling out for this game. Wonder when the impact of the thousands losing their jobs is going to be realized and there won''t be anymore handouts, for glossy visitor centers or anything else!

[hutchinstepp]

I guess Reid''s comment lets us know where we stand in the pecking order. In the stink line. I am appalled by this statement that "We the People" are all just a bunch of smelly barbarians that really don''t matter as long as we keep shelling out the money. Where does it end? After all, we are the unwashed ignorant public.

[usclimey]

"In the summertime, because the high humidity and how hot it gets in here, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol," Reid said"

Further evidence that Reid''s getting senile and should step down as Senate Majority leader - the dems deserve better.

[airboatboy1]

Great place to take the family and friends and show them there''s no recession.

[slim1h2o]

The brand new Capitol Visitors Center? Six-hundred and twenty-one million dollars.

Not having to smell sweaty tourists? Priceless
-----------------------------------------------

Can our Government get any more elitist?

Nope, They''ve hit a brand new high in lows....

[caldwellptr]

It only cost $2 per person for every man, woman and child in the United States. You can''t bathe for that price. But thankfully you can see the Capitol.

[rdavidc1]

The "SMELL" that is being referred to in this article, is the smell of WORKING people that pay the salary of the SELF RIGHTEOUS that are supposed to be working for the people they are SMELLING!!!
The smelled people are there because they love this country and want to see it''s capital!!!
To refer to the SMELL of the people in any such way is extremely disrespectful!!! Every person there, should be EXTREMELY proud that the PEOPLE of this country are interested enough and proud enough of OUR government to want to visit the place that is OUR CAPITAL!!!
I CAN LITERALLY SMELL.........

[magoo2u1]

Great. They spent 600 million because they think the taxpayers stink. Priceless.