The United States Capitol will reopen to the general public this month after more than 2 years of COVID-19 constraints if a pending plan is embraced in reaction to bipartisan pressure.
The first phase of resuming public access will begin March 28 if the strategy is adopted, Fox News reported Monday.
Congressional offices would be allowed to give 15-person trips of the Capitol and there would be 4 trips per hour for school groups of approximately 50 individuals, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Fox News reporter Chad Pergram reported.
Legislators from both parties rallied for the pandemic limitations to end as coronavirus cases diminish and authorities ditch mask mandates.
No. 3 House Republican Politician Elise Stefanik (R-NY) knocked the extended closure in a March 3 declaration.
“It has been 719 days since [House] Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi closed the People’s House to the public. This far exceeds the amount of time of any prior closure over the course of the Capitol’s more than 200-year history,” Stefanik said, adding, “Speaker Pelosi – reopen the People’s House today.”
Many Democrats likewise demanded restrictions to end.
“I’d like to see the Capitol open safely to tourists again,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said recently. “A lot of my constituents are asking about visiting, and I think they should be able to visit again.”
“It is time that the U.S. Capitol open once again to visitors,” Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, the non-voting House delegate for the District of Columbia, said last week. “Given the importance of the Capitol to D.C.’s tourist economy, it is time for the Capitol, like the rest of D.C. is already doing, to reopen to visitors.”
The first stage of reopening would be a far cry from pre-pandemic operations.
Before the pandemic, the Capitol’s cavernous Rotunda typically was so packed with groups of visitors that a humid indoor environment dominated and people who operated in the building had to wade through congested hallways.
The US Capitol Police Department still will need to approve the reopening strategy, Pergram reported.
Congress quickly authorized a $2.1 billion bundle to improve security after last year’s Capitol riot, however, Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger in January said that“we’ve got a ways to go before we can reopen the campus.”
“The staffing is the biggest issue,” Manger said. “We are around 440-50 officers below where we need to be to be able to do the workload that we have responsibility for.”
