Closed Capitol is a somber July 4 backdrop
Plans to reopen are still fluid amid new security threats and coronavirus variants.
WASHINGTON — As it has been for nearly 16 months, longer than any time in the nation’s history, the U.S. Capitol is closed to most public visitors.
The one-two punch of the COVID-19 pandemic that shuttered the Capitol’s doors in the spring of 2020 and the deadly insurrection by then-President Trump’s supporters Jan. 6 has left the icon of American democracy unopen to all but a select few.
As the rest of the nation emerges this Independence Day from the pandemic for cookouts and fireworks, encouraged by President Biden from the White House, the people’s house faces new threats of violence and coronavirus variants.
“What is heartbreaking about it is that the Capitol has been forever our symbol of democracy — enduring through the Civil War, through world wars, through strife of all kinds,” said Jane L. Campbell, president and chief executive of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.
Congressional leaders are working intently to try to resume public tours in some form, but any reopening probably will come with new health and safety protocols for the millions of annual visitors, 535 lawmakers and thousands of staff and crew.
In the House, lawmakers have been operating under a proxy voting system that has allowed them to avoid travel to Washington, though most now vote in person. The Senate is mostly back to in-person business. Both chambers conduct some committee operations remotely.
The security fencing surrounding the Capitol is about to come down, a gesture toward normalcy. A $1.9billion emergency spending package to bolster security for the complex was approved by the House, but the Senate is objecting to the increased money.
The conversations in public and private over how to safely reopen are shifting as dangerous coronavirus strains emerge and federal law enforcement officials issue new warnings about the potential for violence from right-wing extremist groups and conspiracy theorists.
White nationalists and other far-right groups loyal to Trump stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, and were among those trying to overturn Biden’s victory. Authorities have been tracking chatter online about groups of people potentially returning to Washington as part of an unfounded and baseless conspiracy theory that Trump would be reinstated in August, according to two officials familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement information.
“I want people to feel proud that they can come to the Capitol, and they can talk about its rich history,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and now chairman of a new select panel that will investigate the riot.
“We shouldn’t ever think about visiting the Capitol and wondering if it’s safe,” he said.
Lawmakers have struggled over the last year with their own mixed emotions over the shuttered doors, wary of returning to the Capitol when a segment of their colleagues, mainly Republicans, refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Two elected officials have died of COVID-19 complications.
Although many lawmakers say they are saddened by the black-metal security fencing, and all it represents, some also view it as a necessary deterrent after having fled to safety from the proTrump rioters.
But the quieted hallways now create their own unease, representing all that is being lost. A lawmaker’s children played in the empty Rotunda one recent evening, a reminder of the absence of school groups, tourists and other visitors who typically crowd the summer season.
Congress provides the most direct link between Americans and their federal government, the representative democracy the founders envisioned. Some 2.5 million people used to visit the Capitol each year and 12 million the surrounding grounds, according to a House aide. Public tours of the White House also remain closed.
“I miss the visitors,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (DIll.), who said she had escorted some people to the House gallery on a recent day only to find that it was closed to onlookers.
“I always find it inspiring that so many people want to come here,” she said.
The Capitol has endured crises before. The public galleries were shut down for about a month during the 1918 pandemic. The grounds were closed for a few months after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The public was also unable to visit in 1968 during unrest after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Security was reconsidered at different points, including after shootings on lawmakers and bombings at the building.
But not since the end of the War of 1812, when the British invaded in 1814, has the seat of American democracy seen an attack like the one this year.
Trump’s supporters fought the police, broke through barricades and stormed the halls, threatening to harm former Vice President Mike Pence and other leaders and lawmakers as the mob tried to stop Congress from certifying the states’ election results for Biden.
All told, five people died stemming from the events, including a Trump supporter shot by police, three people who had medical emergencies and a police officer who died later. Two police officers later took their own lives. Hundreds of people have been arrested.
Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois, the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, sent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (DSan Francisco) a letter signed by some 135 other Republican lawmakers calling for a plan to fully reopen.
“There is no reason for the Capitol to be closed,” Davis said in an interview.
He said those involved in the siege should be prosecuted, but it’s time for the House to end proxy voting and resume regular operations. “We’ve got to get back to doing what the people sent us here to do,” he said.
A senior Democratic aide, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said tours have not resumed for pandemic and security reasons. The House and Senate sergeants at arms are continually reviewing the situation in consultation with the Office of Attending Physician, the aide said.
The Capitol complex is open to official business visitors with limits on the numbers allowed. Most are asked to sign in and provide background information.
“The Capitol has now been closed for the longest stretch in its 228-year history,” said Campbell of the historical society.
“What I would say to all of us is that it’s important for Congress to come together around safety,” she said. “People ought to be able to work together around that.”