The Capitol is slated to reopen partially starting on March 28 after more than two years of being closed to the public because of the pandemic.
An aide familiar with the plans told the Washington Examiner the Capitol Police Board has started circulating its proposal for phased reopening among its members, but “they still need to agree to effectuate it.”
If the plan is agreed upon, Phase One would lift the limit for official business visitors from nine to 15, allow staff to conduct tours for groups of up to 15 people, and provide a limited number of guided tours to student groups from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday through Friday. The Botanic Gardens would also be reopened to the public.
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The House and Senate sergeants-at-arms first opted to close the Capitol to the public in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic started to escalate nationwide.
Proponents of the move argue that with pandemic restrictions being lifted across the nation, people’s access to the Capitol is overdue.
A resolution led by Sen. Bill Hagerty, a Tennessee Republican, to reopen the Capitol and Senate office building recently passed the upper chamber by unanimous consent.
“Americans everywhere are safely living their lives, going to work and school, visiting stores, attending events, and gathering with their family and their friends. They shouldn’t have to know somebody in order to visit their representative, to take a tour of the Capitol, to get into this building. It’s time for the lockdown on democracy to come to an end,” Hagerty said on the floor ahead of its passage.
But some have expressed reservations about fully reopening the building over security concerns following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
“If we are telling people in this country that Jan. 6 was ‘legitimate political discourse,’ we’re going to have great concerns about opening up this Capitol for the safety of our members, for the safety of the public who wants to visit, for the safety of our staff,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, on the House floor earlier this month in reference to a Republican National Committee censure of GOP Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
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But a number of Democrats have voiced support for it to be reopened with the proper safety precautions in place.
“Restrictions due to COVID-19 are disappearing in the District of Columbia and nationwide because vaccines work, and there is no reason to believe visitors in the Capitol would imperil security,” said Washington, D.C., Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton in a recent statement. “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.”
