U.S. Capitol Rolling Out Over-Priced Welcome Mat
Tuesday December 2, 8:00 am ET
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The nation’s premier taxpayer watchdog group, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today expressed dismay over the exorbitant final price tag for the Capitol Visitors Center (CVC).
Initially conceived in the early 1990s and projected to cost $71 million, the CVC has become an example of out-of-control government contracting and mismanagement. After costs ballooned and construction schedules spiraled out of control, the three-level, underground monument to congressional excess finally came in at a whopping $621 million and three years behind schedule.
“The mismanagement and bloat associated with the construction of the Capitol Visitors Center is emblematic of the rampant waste in the nation’s capitol,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. “This boondoggle should give pause to anyone contemplating the expenditure of hundreds of billions more taxpayer dollars for any federal infrastructure projects as part of any new stimulus package. Like the federal budget itself, Congress used the CVC as a warehouse for tens of millions of dollars in extravagant bells and whistles for itself. Even more reprehensible, members of Congress seeking to add special features for themselves used security concerns surrounding the September 11 attacks to justify their extravagant add-ons and constant change orders.”
Original plans called for more than half of the CVC space to be left as unfinished “shell space”, available to be outfitted for future needs. Instead, in 2001 Congress began implementing its wish list for the unfinished spaces. The House side got a two-story hearing room and the Senate grafted on a collection of small hearing rooms and a television and radio studio with adjoining makeup facilities so that senators could cut spots for their constituents back home. Those two efforts alone added $85 million to the cost of the CVC. The CVC will also have a 450-seat dining area, two orientation theaters (one for each chamber), a large auditorium, and an exhibition hall.
The Government Accountability Office wrote dozens of reports detailing the financial woes of the project. At one point, after numerous delays and cost overruns, exasperated members of Congress called the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) on the carpet. In March, 2007, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga) publicly excoriated the AOC, saying that the CVC had become “a monument to government inefficiency, ineptitude and excessiveness.” Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.) said, “I've never seen a bigger boondoggle in my life. It's like they’re playing with Monopoly money.”
“Looks like Congress made doormats out of taxpayers in order to roll out this extravagant welcome mat for tourists on Capitol Hill,” concluded Schatz.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.
