Congressman Brad Sherman - Congressional Record Passages

PLAN NEEDED TO PROVIDE DIRECTIONAL SIGNS AT U.S. CAPITOL COMPLEX
(House of Representatives - April 21, 1997)

Mr. Speaker, I would now like to address a completely different subject and one that is not nearly so grave. I had a chance to meet with the Architect of the United States Capitol, the man who keeps the facilities here running, to talk to him about some of the ways we could make this institution work better as a physical plant.

Mr. Speaker, we get four to five million tourists every year. Now, that does not cause us to rival Disneyland, although there are those who assert that the U.S. Congress rivals Disneyland in other respects, but it is indeed a large number of people to accommodate. And yet, I will just illustrate the problem with a story that happened last year. 

Some constituents of mine came and visited the gallery, right up there. And after watching their fill of Congressional pontificating, they decided to walk back to my office in the Longworth building through the tunnels. For it was winter and the tunnels were warm. And, as everyone knows, there are a network of tunnels that connect the Capitol with the House office buildings. Well, they walked down into the tunnels and they have not been heard from since. For that labyrinth, that maze, lacks almost any sign to tell them where they are going.

Now, as a serious matter, the absence of signage so far has not been responsible for somebody being lost to the point where they were never heard from again, but it does imperil the efficiency not only of this House's business, the efficiency of those who come here to persuade us on various issues, but it also impairs the efficiency of the Capitol Police that are here to protect us. And last year the importance of that protection was illustrated.  If we talk to any Capitol policeman or Capitol police woman, if we talk to them for a while and ask them to let down their guard a little bit, they will tell us they spend less than a third but close to a third of their time giving directions.

Well, that is not surprising. There are four to five million tourists here each year not to mention a few freshmen and sophomore Members of Congress who ourselves do not always know the best way to get from one place to another. We need a plan to provide signs throughout the Capitol complex.

I am happy to report to the House that the architect has already signed a consulting contract, half of that contract is completed, for a plan to put signs virtually everywhere, literally thousands of new directional signs so that people who visit us will know where they are and how to get to where they are going.  I was told once, if we want to influence what happens in Washington, we need to hire an expensive lobbyist who knows his way around the Capitol. I thought that meant understanding parliamentary procedure. But parliamentary procedure is simple compared to the labyrinth of tunnels underneath this building, and knowing our way around Washington may very well mean simply knowing how to get from one building to the other.

Thousands of directional signs throughout the buildings and tunnels will make it easier for people to do business whether they are here for a day or whether they are just coming to Congress as freshmen or new staffers. I will simply point out that the way they test the intelligence of rodents is they put them in a maze of tunnels and see how quickly they can figure out their way around.

I personally am not going to go one-on-one against the more intelligence white rats because, if my own experience in the tunnels is any indication, I am not certain that I would prevail. We need these directional signs. And I am also happy to report to those who protect the entrance at the southeast corner of the Longworth building that I have the assurance of the Architect that a new series of signs will be put up there very soon so that they can do their job instead of telling people that they are in the Longworth Building and where the Rayburn Building is and where the Cannon Building is.  There is one other step that we could take. It has been analyzed by the consultants. I believe the consultants have not embraced it, but it deserves some additional attention. And that is the idea of putting colored striping not in the beautiful buildings but in the I will use the term `ugly' tunnels that are underneath this building.  I think my colleagues are well aware that those tunnels are not in any way aesthetic. They have open pipes and dangling wires, and certainly colored stripes on the ground would do nothing to decrease their aesthetic appeal. But those colored lines could direct people from one building to the other effectively and direct them to the Capitol building effectively. There is perhaps a plan to make those tunnels a little bit more aesthetically consistent with the rest of the Capitol; and if that is the case, I would well understand why colored lines on the ground are inconsistent with that. But if the tunnels are going to remain the functional-only tunnels that they are today, then nothing should be ruled out as far as making them more usable and providing some direction to those who use them.

A second issue I would like to raise would perhaps make it easier on Americans by not requiring them to even come to Washington at all, although it is beautiful and I urge Americans to come here to see their Government in action, and that is an idea that has been used in the California capitol in Sacramento for over 20 years. Each of the hearing rooms for each of the committees here in Congress has a microphone system and anywhere in that room we can hear whoever is speaking, and that means their voice is going through a wire to the loudspeakers. But, unfortunately, that wire only goes to loudspeakers in that hearing room.

As has been remarked on many occasions, Congress in committee is Congress at work. What goes on in committee is every bit as important as what goes on on this floor. And if my speech lasts as long as it might, perhaps many would argue that what goes on in committee is far more interesting than what is going on on the floor.

But, in any case, what goes on in committee, whether it is a subcommittee or full committee, is of critical importance. And yet in Sacramento, if we are anywhere in the capitol complex, they have at their desk a box and they can simply turn a 1970s technology dial on that box and listen through a speaker to what is happening in committee hearing room number 1 or number 2 or number 15 or number 22, so that every legislative assistant in Sacramento can hear what is going on in their Ways and Means Committee while at the same time being able to prepare their member for what is going to go on in their Appropriations Committee.

Just as C-SPAN plays what is going on on the House floor, which is of occasional interest to the legislative assistants, they could instead listen to what is going on in an appropriations subcommittee of direct relevance to the district that their Member represents.

So I think that we can also rig up a system at virtually minimal cost so that each of us in each office here in the Capitol could listen on a box to what is going on in the committee hearing room of our choice, listening perhaps on one hour to what is going on in the International Relations hearing room and then turning a dial to listen to what is going on in Ways and Means.

But we do not have to stop at 1970s technology. We could work our way up to 1980s technology. We could take those same 20 or 30 audio choices and put them on an 800 number.

Or if we wanted to be cheap, we could put them on a 900 number. But either way, we can allow people all over the country to dial in and hear what is going on in this or that committee of the House of Representatives.

Today there their only alternative is to hire some expensive lobbyist to come monitor a committee or, alternatively, to fly to Washington so that they could be there for a committee hearing.

Now, I know that C-SPAN covers what seems to be an interminable number of committee hearings. But, in fact, only two or three percent of the committee hearings are carried live and those interested in what is going on in committee and subcommittee have to be physically in the room to hear what is going on. We could, through 1980s technology, provide that to every American everywhere in the country. And I know there are people who watch this floor on C-SPAN who would prefer to know what is going on in the committee that is relevant to them.

But we do not even have to stop at 1980s technology. As we approach the new century, we could even think of 1990s technology. At virtually no cost, we could put that same audio signal on the Internet and anyone with a computer and a modem and 10 or 20 bucks to provide their Internet service provider could listen anywhere in the country to what is going on in any committee room here in the House of Representatives.

This is the people's House, but the people should not have to fly to Washington to hear what is going on.

Now, I realize that the system will not be perfect. They will not necessarily be certain who is speaking when listening on a squawk box or listening on the Internet. But certainly this is an option that we should provide. And those who listen carefully will hear who the chairman or chair woman of a committee has recognized and will be able to remember who is speaking.

Mr. Speaker, I would now like to give my third speech. And while I said that I would use only half of the allotted hour, I fear that I may use perhaps two-thirds of it. And I apologize to those staff members who are extremely anxious to leave.