As control of the House remains in flux after the midterm elections, the Republican and Democratic leaders are openly fighting over fully reopening the building to the public for the first time since the COVID shutdown started in March 2020.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is calling for the entire U.S. Capitol Complex to be fully reopened to the public on Jan. 3, when he presumes Republicans will take control. A spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) described McCarthy’s directive as “intimidation” and “nothing more than a desperate attempt to distract from the unmitigated disaster that was his party’s performance in the midterm election.”
As of Nov. 12, Republicans have won 211 of the 218 seats needed to take the majority after the Nov. 8 election.
New Speaker in Town?
McCarthy wrote a public letter on Thursday to the legislative branch’s administrative officials—including the sergeant-at-arms, the U.S. Capitol Police chief, and the attending physician—saying that under the “new leadership” in Congress, he was ordering a “full plan” to reopen.Jan. 3 is when the new Congress will be sworn in, and McCarthy could become the speaker of the House if Republicans gain control of the lower chamber.
McCarthy wrote that the closure has restricted the American people from “exercising their constitutional right to petition the first branch of government” and to “watch their representative vote on legislation in person.” He said that this is more than a “symbolic gesture” and is necessary for elected officials to have “interaction with the people.”
Pelosi Responds
Pelosi’s spokesman Drew Hammill released a scathing response, calling McCarthy’s letter “incoherent.” He wrote that “after bungling the election, the Minority Leader would rather intimidate the professionals who run the House than get to work on the issues that voters just told us are on their minds.”Hammill said, “The Minority Leader is still the Minority Leader—and he shouldn’t count his chickens before they hatch.”
McCarthy’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Pelosi’s accusations.
With 23 competitive seats still uncalled as of Saturday, neither party can claim a majority in the next Congress yet. Republicans need seven of those 23 seats to flip the House, which the Democrats currently control.
Pelosi’s office gave three different reasons for the continued closure of the People’s House: Capitol Police staffing shortages, COVID-19 deaths, and the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.
Pelosi’s spokesman said McCarthy was ignoring the security needed due to a “deadly insurrection” that was “provoked by his personal hero and broadly supported by his conference,” referring to former President Donald Trump and the breach.
Pelosi’s office called the “phased reopening” a way to “limit the spread of a plague that has killed more than a million Americans.” U.S. authorities include deaths with COVID-19, as opposed to from COVID-19, in the death count. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the current seven-day average as being 358 deaths in the United States.
People’s House
At issue is the public watching the House debate and vote from the galleries, which are the balconies overlooking the House floor. The galleries were closed to the public entirely until the third phase of reopening in September.Now lawmakers are allowed to bring guests to the galleries while the House is in session, according to a memo from the House Sergeant-at-Arms William Walker that was obtained by the Hill. The Congress member or staff must remain with the guests at all times while in the gallery.
Before the shutdown, any visitor touring the Capitol could get a pass to watch the legislative proceedings without having exclusive access to a member of Congress and an escort.
Also, the public cannot enter the House office buildings across the street from the Capitol without an appointment with a representative and a staff escort. In the past, the public was able to enter these buildings through security and visit their representative’s office directly and walk freely in the complex.
It took until May 2022 for the Capitol Visitor Center to reopen for tours of the complex. But reservations are required to enter, and the website makes clear that “the tour does not include the Senate and House Galleries.” Visitors on the tour are led past roped-off hallways that lead to the House and Senate floors and gallery doors.
McCarthy is also pushing for the public to once again be allowed to enter the House office buildings.
Pressure to Reopen
Pelosi originally shut down the entire Capitol Complex on March 12, 2020, out of fear of spreading the virus. After two years, McCarthy tried to force legislation to reopen the House with a resolution saying it was “the longest closure of the Capitol in history, with no end in sight.”He pointed out in a statement that President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address on the floor of the House on March 1 that “COVID-19 need no longer control our lives.”
The Senate passed a unanimous resolution in March, sponsored by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), to support reopening the Capitol, which said in part that “it is time to once again welcome the public participation in the legislative process and the public visitation of our historic buildings that have always been hallmarks of American democracy.”
Capitol Police and Jan. 6
Finally, Pelosi cited the need for “additional funding for the U.S. Capitol Police, which has been crucial to the effort to reopen.” She said McCarthy whipped the vote against additional funding in a supplemental spending bill in May 2021, which had tens of millions of dollars of spending for the police related to the events of Jan. 6.McCarthy acknowledged “shortages inside the ranks” of the Capitol police and the “logistical and security” requirements needed to reopen. However, as The Epoch Times reported exclusively in August, a spokesman for the U.S. Capitol Police said that it would be able to resolve staffing issues and reopen the galleries in September. At the time, a spokesman said the chief believed the force was 300 officers short of his desired staffing levels.
After the attack on Paul Pelosi at the Pelosis’ San Francisco home, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger released a statement saying the department is on track to meet its goal of hiring 280 new officers by the end of the year.
The agency’s public information office did not respond to requests for comment on the current timeline for staffing the galleries to reopen.
Correction: A previous version of this article inaccurately stated when the Senate passed its resolution. It was in March. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
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