[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 67 (Tuesday, May 20, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2936]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  WE SHOULD REOPEN PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

  (Ms. NORTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, the constituents, the tourists of my 
colleagues come every year. If they go anywhere near Pennsylvania 
Avenue they will find a traffic catastrophe. The heart of downtown is 
closed to the public because the White House area is no longer open to 
traffic.
  Senators and Representatives from this region today have written the 
President asking that the Treasury, the Secret Service, and the 
District of Columbia sit down to work out a plan to reopen Pennsylvania 
Avenue. That plan must be consistent with the Secret Service concerns 
about the safety of the White House complex. We are fully cognizant of 
that.
  But this region is No. 2 in the Nation in lost time to commuters and 
No. 1 in economic losses to commuters because of that lost time. Many 
Members know what this is about because they come into town in the 
morning to a closed Pennsylvania Avenue and all the traffic problems 
that have been brought. Open Pennsylvania Avenue gradually, consistent 
with the President's safety.

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