Posted on 04/25/2014 8:09:29 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Lawmakers are rallying around the 150-year-old U.S. Capitol Dome, weather-whipped and torn open by acid rain, worried that if an 11th-hour restoration isn’t fully funded, its most important traits could be lost forever.
“If this work isn't done,” warned Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., “we're going to lose the dome, we're going to lose it as it truly, historically is.”
A big fix, added Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., is needed, “so that we don't lose these treasures forever.”
The two Senate appropriators are joining to help Architect of the Capitol Stephen T. Ayers secure the money needed to complete the $60 million restoration projection, set to go into final stages next month with the erection of scaffolding to surround the whole dome, just like that done recently at the Washington Monument.
The interior is also in need of restoration, and the Capitol Rotunda is temporarily closed as interior safety netting is installed to begin that $21 million project.
Pockmarked with about 300 cracks and broken stone about a dozen years ago, there are now 1,300 cracks in the dome’s exterior covered with a dozen layers of lead-based paint that allow water to seep in and stain the interior. Some stone carvings are so damaged that it’s hard to make them out...
Congress is expected to fund the project, one of over 20 emergency fixes on the Capitol campus, and Ayers said it should be done in time for the next presidential Inauguration in January 2017.
The House has moved forward with funding, and the Senate is expected to follow in May. One insider suggested that members would rather spend less on it, but realize that restoring a piece of American history can’t be skimped on.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
“I am sure that more than enough Americans would be willing to contribute to help restore the Capitol Dome.”
I’ll contribute to totally demolish the entire capitol building but not one cent to restore it!!
I have this vague recollection of them “fixing” the dome in 1990. I have photos of scaffolding around the dome. I guess the fix was short lived.
Dingy Harry has more than that in the petty cash box in his office desk.
(It's a hollowed-out book of Mormon, in case you go a-looking lol).
Maybe the Capitol Dome should come down. It no longer represents the nation it once did, the territory formerly known as “the United States of America”, and its rot is as much from the inside as from some vague atmospheric chemical reaction, which may or may not be based in scientific fact.
I did the same a couple of years ago before the Kenyan slithered into office. Didn’t notice any damage, but I was on street level, so what they say might be true. However, given the “character” of the current occupants of foggy bottom, this looks to be another looting of the treasury.
Did you get by the WW I memorial?
It looks like hell. Years of neglect have reduced it to an eyesore. Guess they have their priorities.
The Beltway crowd wastrels made it clear during the ‘sequester’ that the Capitol, WH, monuments, etc., are not public buildings by excluding the American people.
Many critters, like Harry Reid, are multi-millionaires many times over, since public service can be very lucrative. Let them pass the hat! No tax dollars. Shut. It. Down.
Now, go get your shine boxes and sniff 0’s butt while he writes another billion dollar check to Kenya for infrastructure repairs, you dammed cattle don’t deserve a feed lot (rant continues for several more paragraphs, redacted out of consideration for children and horses)
The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Dept. Of Education have a SWAT team.
If we had anyone in office with a flipping brain in their heads, they’d make the opposition go on record as to why the budget for those SWAT teams can’t be cut.
Then there are the 200+ year old cat paw prints in the concrete in the basement, the bullet holes in the ceiling of the modern house of reps, the old flask in the dead grandfather clock in the senate cloak room - so much history. Every American has got to visit the Capitol at least once.
Let it fall apart.
Well... it was a union job.
60 million is just the “let’s get this thing started price.” I guarantee it will be at least 5 times that when all is said and done.
The US Capitol Visitor’s Center:
Initial: 265 million with completion in 2005
Actual: 621 million, opened December 2008
I am sure it is nice, but the evil scum bag political whores who meet there, have left a lasting stain on it, that we might never be able to get out.
You got that right!
Truly the most magnificent building ever built.
On a tour of the Capitol rotunda in the early 2000’s I was surprised to see that there were some small holes visible in the dome through which one could see the sky. The guide said that these were due to cracks that occurred because of long-term settling of the dome. I know that at least some of the dome has some outer layers so I’m not sure how this worked.
What's the annual Federal Budget these days? $1.2 trillion? That's way more than $21 million. So there IS enough money to fix it.
What they are really saying is that there isn't enough money for statues of camels at embassies, subsidies for pornographic art, and studies of the sex habits of New Guinea tribesmen. As every business owner and head of household knows, when some expenditure is critically important, you move it to the top of the list of spending priorities. If the dome collapses for lack of funding it's not the fault of the American taxpayers, it's the fault of the people we hired to manage this kind of thing. Now shut up and fix it.
The damage and devastation is far worse with what happens inside that building. The outside is a reflection of the inside.
No curb appeal.
There is a capital of the US? Didn’t even know we had a president.
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