Free Republic

WASHINGTON – There's a hole the size of the federal deficit on the east side of the Capitol as work accelerates on a new visitor center, the largest, most expensive construction project in the 200-year history of the building. The project has expanded in scope nearly as fast as the 53,000 truckloads of dirt could be removed, driving its cost up from an estimated $265 million to $421 million. The three-story underground facility is now scheduled to open in the spring of 2006, delayed some four or five months from the original December 2005 goal because of bad weather, design...