(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today blasted a report that the price tag for the second phase of construction of a tax-funded Capitol Visitor Center will be 20 percent higher than originally claimed.

Capitol Architect Alan M. Hantman announced today the he had awarded a $144.2 million contract to Oklahoma-based Manhattan Construction Co. to complete “Sequence 2” of the project – work involving laying floors, wiring, plumbing and stonework.  Hantman had initially estimated that it would cost $120 million to complete the phase.

“Unfortunately for taxpayers, it seems as though the Capitol Visitor Center is turning out to be another typical government boondoggle,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “As is often the case when the government oversees the construction of such projects, the actual cost is proving to be considerably lower than was originally estimated. Now taxpayers are getting bled for the additional revenue.

The cost of the huge Capitol Visitor Center being built under the east plaza of the Capitol continues to climb, with the price tag for the project's second phase now set 20 percent higher than expected. Capitol Architect Alan M. Hantman announced today he has awarded a $144.2 million contract for the work to the Manhattan Construction Co., based in Tulsa Okla. Hantman initially estimated that it would cost $120 million to complete "Sequence 2" -- work that includes laying floors, wiring, plumbing and stonework needed to finish the interior of the center. He later revised the estimate upward, telling the Senate Rules and Administration Committee last month that he expected bids 10 percent to 15 percent more than originally anticipated. Hantman blamed the increase on intense demand for construction workers in the Washington metropolitan area.

When it was first approved in 1999, the 580,000-square-foot, three-level underground complex was expected to cost $265 million. The total cost estimate, before the contract for Sequence 2, was $373.5 million.

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.

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