(Washington, D.C.) - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) sees a potential boondoggle-in-the-making with the recent approval of the Capitol Visitor Center, an immense underground information center to be constructed beneath the Capitol lawn over the next three years.  The 580,000 square-foot facility will be the largest addition to the Capitol building since the Civil War.  Currently in the contracting stages, the project has already run into funding problems and construction delays.

“The Capitol Visitor Center shows all the signs of becoming a quintessential government boondoggle: ambitious engineering, a long construction schedule, and lack of strong private interest,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said.

By law, all the money required for the project had to be raised before Congress could give approval to begin construction.  Congress injected the first $100 million into the program with an earmark to the 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Act (P.L.105-277).  The nonprofit Fund for the Capitol Visitor Center was charged with raising an additional $100 million in private donations.  After two years of trying, the fund could only muster $39 million to augment the taxpayers’ share.  Even bringing on former Sen. John Glenn as the fund’s spokesman failed to spur sufficient philanthropic interest.  Congress appropriated the rest of the money in early 2002, quietly compelling taxpayers to pay $230 million of the $265 million final price tag.

“This financial sleight-of-hand offers the public a lesson about private support for government programs,” continued Schatz. “From ballparks, to monorails, to the most prominent of all boondoggles, Boston’s notorious Big Dig, new projects often come with the promise of being at least partially self-supporting. Such promises tend to run dry over time, forcing taxpayers to pay swelling costs.”

“Sadly, this $265 million might be only the beginning,” added Schatz.  “Initial cost estimates for new projects are often kept low in order to gain political support.  It is likely the visitor center will require more money down the line.”

Furthermore, many Capitol Hill insiders speculate that a new visitor center will give security planners an excuse for placing more restrictions on civilian access to the Capitol building.

“The Capitol Visitor Center was sold as a popular initiative to educate citizens about the democratic process,” concluded Schatz.  “Evidently, it wasn’t popular enough to attract voluntary support.  As a grand finale, this expensive project could wind up replacing the halls of democracy with a 580,000 square-foot information desk. Citizens Against Government Waste will keep a watchful eye on the construction of the Capitol Visitor Center.”    

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.