Kansas Senators Leading Effort to Re-open U.S. Capitol and Senate Office Buildings

(Washington, D.C., February 15, 2022) – U.S. Senators Roger Marshall, M.D. and Jerry Moran are helping lead a resolution in support of re-opening the U.S. Capitol and Senate office buildings to Kansans under pre-COVID policies.

“Kansans deserve access to their U.S. Capitol, and it is past time Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi re-open the doors to pre-pandemic levels,” said Senator Marshall. “With COVID cases and hospitalizations on the decline, 94 percent of Americans having immunity to COVID, mask mandates falling by the wayside, and 70 percent of Americans agreeing ‘it’s time we accept that COVID is here to stay’ and that ‘we just need to get on with our lives,’ we need to stop living in fear, move forward, and drop the U.S. Capitol restrictions that are preventing Kansans from coming to D.C.”

“The U.S. Capitol has long been a symbol of our democracy, and its defining principle is American citizens’ involvement in government,” said Senator Moran. “It is long past time to reopen the United States Capitol Complex and allow the public access to their members of Congress. I have been calling on Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi to lift restrictions for the U.S. Capitol since last spring, and I will continue to do so until Kansans are welcome back into the heart of our democracy.”

Background:

In May 2021, Sen. Moran urged Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to reopen the U.S. Capitol Complex to visitors.

The Capitol and Senate office buildings have remained largely closed to the public for nearly two years, despite that most of America long ago re-opened for gatherings and regular business. This closure has restricted lawmakers’ ability to welcome constituents to their offices and to arrange for tours of the Capitol.

The resolution provides that the Senate: (1) recognizes the importance of reopening the U.S. Capitol and Senate office buildings to public participation in the legislative process; and (2) supports returning to the pre-COVID public visitation policies for areas within Senate jurisdiction.

A copy of the resolution can be found here.

More than half of the Senate Republican Conference is sponsoring the resolution being led by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), including Senators John Thune (R-SD), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rick Scott (R-FL), James Inhofe (R-OK), James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Braun (R-IN), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), John Cornyn (R-TX), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Rand Paul (R-KY), John Hoeven (R-ND), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Kennedy (R-LA), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Ron Johnson (R-WI), John Boozman (R-AR), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Jim Risch (R-ID).

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