And it WASN'T EVEN MEANT FOR YOU!!!
It was meant for "some future day when Congress might need more office area"
Hey, after a $8 TRILLION poke in the pooper, this is like a toothpick:
"Six years later, US Capitol Visitor Center finally ready to open; Project plagued by big spending increases, delays" by Ashley Halsey III, Washington Post | December 2, 2008
WASHINGTON - What began six years ago as a huge, muddy cavity next to the US Capitol and has since consumed thousands of tons of concrete, 400,000 carefully selected hunks of stone, and a million and one other bits of metal, marble, and history, at a cost of $621 million, will be officially christened today.
The only thing missing will be the people it was built to serve. There will be no visitors allowed at the grand opening of the US Capitol Visitor Center. No couples from Kansas or kids from Kentucky, no seniors from Schenectady or tourists from Tokyo.
Yup, WE BUILT IT, but WE are not allowed!! Can you say TYRANNY?
Not to worry. Their moment will come later in the day, and it will last for generations. As many as 20,000 people are expected to pass through the ornate 580,000-square-foot center each day.
The basic belief that tourists needed safe, secure shelter from the elements as they waited to be guided through the Capitol grew, as with so many simple notions left in the hands of Congress, into something far grander: a subterranean edifice so magnificent that it alone is worth a visit.
At a cost of $621 million, I'd rather wait in the rain!!!! How many foreclosures would $600 million forestall?
The unveiling that will be marked with one Capitol Hill staple - speechifying by politicians in an invitation-only morning ceremony - has already achieved much else for which Congress is noted.
Take, for example, spending. What was proposed as a $71 million project in the early 1990s became a $265 million endeavor a decade later. By the time work got underway in 2002, the price tag was up to $368 million. Today, the ribbon will be cut on a $621 million project.
That's why Congress should have as LITTLE MONEY to spend as possible!!!!
Then there was the congressional penchant for thinking big. The center's architects were told to include 150,000 square feet of "shell space" for some future day when Congress might need more office area. The finished center is about two-thirds the size of the entire Capitol.
Then there have been delays, a malady common to many federal endeavors. There are fountains, a spiral staircase, six skylights, and statues of 24 people, ranging from former members of Congress, as might be expected, to notables including Helen Keller, Hawaiian King Kamehameha, and Confederate General Wade Hampton. --more--"
How come NO ONE ASKED US before we had to PAY FOR IT?
Because I WOULD NOT HAVE! What a WASTE of TAXPAYER $$$!!!!
