[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6388]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           THE RED COATS ARE COMING--THE RED COATS ARE COMING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I should inform you that the Red Coats 
are coming! The Red Coats are coming! The United States Capitol once 
again has been invaded by the Red Coats. I am not talking about Prime 
Minister Gordon Brown who spoke to this assembly this morning. I am not 
talking about the fact that the British came and burned this building 
in 1814. No, not at all. But the Nation's Capitol is simply being taken 
away from the American people.
  The new Capitol Visitors Center, the CVC as they call themselves, 
opened its doors in December of 2008, and since that day many new 
bureaucratic rules have been decreed. These new regulations infringe on 
the American people's right to visit this Capitol. It is their 
building. It doesn't belong to us or to the Red Coats.
  Mr. Speaker, there once was a time when a family would come from my 
district. They would show up at my office and they would ask to see the 
Capitol. Myself or a staffer would bring them over to the Capitol, take 
them through these mighty halls by showing them the statues of the two 
famous people from Texas, Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, giving 
them a peak at the old Supreme Court Chamber, and they could spend as 
much time in this building as they wanted to. But no more. Apparently 
the good old times have been replaced by censored, controlled tours 
which can only be given by the CVC staff, the Red Coats.
  Now, before a staff member can even help on a tour of this Capitol, 
that person must attend a 6-hour or 2-day-long propaganda school given 
by the CVC Red Coats. The actual tour that everybody must see before 
they come into this building starts with an opening video given by the 
Red Coats. It is a controlled and censored video and a controlled and 
censored trip through this building. The theme opens in the video by 
saying that the national motto of the United States is ``E Pluribus 
Unum'', which means, according to the video, ``Out of Many, One.''
  Well, Mr. Speaker, I must have missed something. I thought that the 
United States motto was directly above your head, which says ``In God 
We Trust.'' But not according to the Red Coats. They just changed the 
national motto on their own. There is, in fact, no mention of those 
words or religious history of our country in the entire CVC complex. 
This includes their exhibit halls, which are supposed to chronicle the 
real history of America. But the Red Coats have rewritten the history 
of the United States and omit religion or any reference to God.
  Once citizens watch the video, they are allowed into this building to 
go on their tour, as long as they do it on time and they are not late. 
You can't wander around and get away from the Red Coat tour guide like 
the old days. They get to spend a few minutes in the rotunda, a few 
minutes in Statuary Hall and a couple of minutes in the crypt. But that 
is it. There is no looking around at the paintings by Brumidi in the 
hallways. And if your State statue is not on the controlled tour, you 
are out of luck. You don't get to see it. Unfortunately, now one of 
Texas' statues is off the approved route. I guess my constituents will 
just have to become a Member of Congress before they will ever get to 
see it.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that we should make visiting our Capitol a 
safe and pleasurable experience for all constituents and all Americans 
everywhere, and these politically correct positions by the Red Coats 
are not the way to do it.
  I recently signed a letter that is being sponsored by Mr. Kirk and 
Mr. Loebsack that outlines just a few of these ridiculous regulations. 
This letter, bipartisan, of course, goes to Mr. Ayers, the acting 
Architect of the Capitol, who is the chief Red Coat.
  Member offices have little control over scheduling tours. Once in 
awhile somebody will just show up in my office and they want to go see 
this building. It is their first and only trip to Washington. You can't 
do that anymore. You have got to get on a list and you have got to make 
that request a month ahead of time at least before you can come into 
this building. Those ``dropin'' days are over, unfortunately, because 
the Red Coat police are in charge, and if they walk through the 
building and they get off the tour, the Red Coat police dress them 
down.
  Late groups are often turned away. If a family misses their tour by a 
few minutes or the security lines are too long and they don't get there 
on time, they may be out of luck and not even get in this building. 
They are sent home to come back another time. Unless they are trained 
by the CVC, congressional staff members are no longer allowed to even 
give tours. And don't forget those ``reeducation sessions'' last 
between 6 hours and 2 days.
  According to a letter I just received from the CEO of the Visitor 
Center, things are going pretty good, according to them. They say 
thousands of people are making reservations. Well, apparently that is 
true, because my staff assistant is having an impossible time booking 
tours for our constituents during the first week of April, spring 
break, when most of them are coming up here. And the Capitol, 
unfortunately, is not friendly anymore.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States Capitol belongs to the American 
people. It doesn't belong to us. It doesn't belong to the Red Coats. It 
belongs to the American people. And I am disappointed in the new 
regulations from the CVC and the disrespect that has been shown to the 
American people and Members of Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, the Red Coats have arrived and they are stealing the 
people's Capitol away from America. That ought not to be, but that's 
just the way it is.

                          ____________________