The U.S. Capitol’s dome is in a state of disrepair with around 1,300 cracks and money needs to be allocated to fix it, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner.
It was estimated by officials overseeing repairs that fixing the cracks will cost at least $61 million and Congress previously approved around $20 million to fix the base of the dome.
Schumer, however, stressed in the letter that the “upkeep is critical for the safety of those who work and tour the Capitol building every single day,” the Washington Post reported.
“The project also has major symbolic importance. The Capitol’s dome is a monument to our nation’s representative democracy,” Schumer said, reported The New York Times.
“It would be a national embarrassment if partisan gridlock allowed this iconic work of architecture to fall into a state of permanent decay.”
A spokesperson for Boehner told the Post, “We can work together to fix the Capitol Dome without more political posturing from Senator Schumer.”
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