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Published: November 5th 2009
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Oct. 15 We woke up to a little misting of rain, and unfortunately it was the best weather we would see the rest of the week. The first spot of the day was our reserved tour of the US Capitol building. We started off with a healthy breakfast of McDonalds before jumping on the subway and making our way to the east side of the National Mall. One thing we quickly realized about touring DC is that you have to be prepared and leave time for security. The US capitol doesn't allow any food, water, large backpacks, guns, knives, RPG launchers, ect ect... After queing to get through security, we were able to check our coats and check in for our tour. While waiting for our time to start, we saw a couple congressman come out to take photos with groups from their constituency.
The tour began with a little video about the US government and how it functions. We were then split up into smaller groups and guided through the building. We were taken through the Rotunda located underneath the central dome, the National Statuary Hall, and the old senate chamber. The commentary of the tour
The main dome
The Apotheosis of Washington - done by an Italian artist in 1865. Symbolizes George Washington becoming a god was fairly forgetable, but its well worth it to be able to walk throughout the building.
After finishing our tour we walked through the underground tunnel over to the Library of Congress. We weren't able to go throughout the whole building, as it is the active research centre for members of congress and their staff. We were however able to walk around the great hall in the Thomas Jefferson building, simply amazing architecture and art.
We headed back to the Capitol building for a surprisingly good and cheap meal at the Capitol visitor centre cafeteria. Our tour guide had mentioned that we could try to get passes to the House of Representatives gallery, so we asked at the information desk. Normally you are supposed to arrange these through your congressman's office, so the girl at the desk simply asked if we were from another country, asked for ID and then we were given the passes. We then had another round of security where this time you had to give up all cameras, phones, basically anything else you had on you but your clothes. The security now changed from uniformed Capitol police, to plainclothed FBI agents at each door
Rotunda
This is where people are displayed when they are "laid in state" before burial. The last being President Gerald Ford in 2007 of the gallery.
It was a really neat experience to sit in the House and see how it operated. When we first sat down, there was about 3 or 4 members debating a bill primarily about what to do with the Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Essentially the Republicans do not want prisoners on US soil, where the Democrats say it is OK if they are there to face prosecution. We listened to the debate for about 15 minutes, and there were never more than about 10 people in the room. At the end, the speaker Nancy Pelosi called a 15 minute vote, the members started to slowly filter in. With about 1 minute left the flood of congresspeople came in, getting close to the total 435 delegates. In the end, through a series of 3 votes, the democrat majority rejected the motion to send the bill back to committee, and approved the funds for the bill. I pulled this little summary from the US House of Representative Committee on Appropriations website.
"October 15th, 2009 - -
House Passes Homeland Security Appropriations Conference Report - Democrats Again Vote to Allow Guantanamo Terrorists to be Transferred to the U.S.
WASHINGTON,
Rotunda
The "Frieze of American History" goes all around the dome underneath the windows D.C. - The U.S. House today voted to approve the fiscal year 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations conference report - the final legislation to fund various homeland security activities throughout the next year. The bill includes $42.8 billion in total funding - which is $2.5 billion or 6.1% above last year’s level.
The legislation also contains provisions relating to the transfer and release of Guantanamo Bay detainees, including prohibitions on the release of detainees into the U.S. However, the report specifically allows Guantanamo detainees to be transferred onto U.S. soil for prosecution - a provision that both the U.S. House and Senate have previously voted overwhelmingly to oppose. House Republicans offered a motion on the Floor today to send the conference report back to committee so the provision allowing the transfers could be stripped out of the legislation, but they were defeated by the Democrat majority.
House Appropriations Ranking Republican Jerry Lewis voted to oppose the conference report, expressing his support for funding in the bill for various security operations and programs, but denouncing the provision permitting the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the U.S.
“The Democrat majority today has turned a blind eye to the dangers that
Library of Congress
Thomas Jefferson building - he sold his personal library collection to the goverment after the original collection was burned by the British in 1814 these prisoners of war pose to the American people. They have voted to ignore the will of the House, the Senate, and the public and move these dangerous insurgents onto American soil without regard for the risks to our communities. These detainees are enemies of the state, and should be treated as such by being held and brought to justice right where they are - in Guantanamo Bay,” Lewis said.
Lewis also expressed his disappointment with Democrats in the House who changed their vote on the Guantanamo transfer provision. Two weeks ago, virtually the same motion passed overwhelmingly in the House, with 88 Democrats voting in favor. Today, 59 Democrats who previously supported striping the provision switched their votes and voted to allow the transfers.
“Preventing the risks that these dangerous terrorists could place on our communities should be a common goal. It is unfortunate that many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle - who previously voted to prevent these detainees from coming to the U.S. for any reason - have now flipped their votes and have opposed a provision that would do just that,” Lewis said.
I think Melissa's dad and I
really enjoyed this part of the day, the ladies found it a little dry, Melissa's mom saying she was nodding off a little just like she does when Doug watches CNN.
We left the Capitol again and made our way past the Supreme Court and over to the National Archives, where we had a scheduled entry time.
The Archives is a huge building, with the majority of its contents not on display. But they do have some key notable documents from American History that you can look at. The Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, Constitution, and Declaration of Independence being the main ones. Flash photography is very strictly prohibited, as it can deteriorate the documents quicker, there's probably 3 guards in place just to police that. There is also some other exhibits that we had a quick wander through, but being the end of the day we didn't have a huge attention span left in us.
From the Archives we took another Ballantyne walking tour (of course in the rain) past the FBI building, Ford's Theatre (where Lincoln was assassinated) and then into the very historic Hard Rock Cafe for happy hour and some appetizers before walking
over to the Verizon Centre to watch the Washington Capitals play the San Jose Sharks. Pretty good game, we got to see 2 Ovechkin goals before ducking out mid 3rd period to catch the subway back to the hotel.
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