Lawmakers bristle at possible curbs on aides’ CVC tours

A possible lack of staff-led tours of the new Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) had lawmakers fired up at a House Administration Committee hearing Wednesday.

Specifically, lawmakers expressed concern that professional tour guides would replace traditional tours given to visiting constituents by staffers.

{mosads}“Expect on occasion my staff to have separate, individual tours on their own. I will tell you unequivocally that if you come between me and my constituents, I won’t allow it,” Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) said.

Capitol Police Chief Phillip Morse said professional tour guides, working along with staffers, will allow police to better regulate the flow of visitors to ease congestion. Tom Stevens, director of visitor services, noted professional tour guides would be allowed to take 40 visitors on a tour, while staffers are currently allowed to take only 15.

Morse said using professional tour guides also would improve security for the $621 million center, because they will carry radios that will make evacuation easier during an emergency.

The CVC’s newly appointed chief executive officer, Terrie Rouse, said she would like to see a combination of the two types of tour, wherein staff would be allowed to accompany professionals or rejoin them at the entrance to the Capitol.
“We believe we will serve members of Congress by better integrating, not eliminating, the staff-facilitated functions into the tour program,” Rouse said.

Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) said he preferred a concept he called “staff-hosted tours,” where professional tour guides would lead tours and staff members would have the option of going along and personalizing tours to “add hometown flavor.”

“We’re not doing away with staff-involved tours; they’re just going to take a different form,” Ehlers said.

Stevens said professional tours would have other advantages as well. He said that while some staffers give factual, informative tours, others are ill-prepared.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) is the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee’s legislative branch panel, which meets monthly to monitor CVC progress. Wasserman Schultz said it is “essential” that staff-led tours continue. “That is a direct connection to our constituents,” she said. “We don’t want this service bypassed.”

Ehlers, citing a letter from colleagues that raised concerns about the tours, suggested an open meeting to discuss and clarify the issue.

“We have no intention of leaving our colleagues or their staffs out of this process, but we have to recognize that this is going to be a totally different situation,” he said.

Said House Administration panel Chairman Robert Brady (D-Pa.), “We are working to ensure that staffers will continue to host constituent tours, while integrating them into the new safety and security measures of the CVC and the more robust guide-led process.”

Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) was particularly concerned about whether visitors would be allowed to enter the CVC through the Cannon House Office Building tunnel, especially in bad weather.

Morse said the plan is to have all visitors go through screening at the CVC’s main entrance. “It is my position that that is the optimum security screening point, and that answer might mean that people traverse in weather that is cold and wet or hot,” he said.

The CVC is 98 percent complete, but Rouse said her office still is working on plans for an advanced reservation system, a website and a public information campaign ahead of the November 2008 opening.

“I’m begging you to come up with normal standard procedures for whatever the situation is going to be,” Capuano said.