WASHINGTON, DC: Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House and Representative of California’s 20th District in the House of Representatives meets with visitors at the Capitol.
“This is YOUR Capitol. After years of being closed to the public, it is back open for tours,” he said in a tweet on Thursday and added, “I hope to meet you next time you visit!”.
The Capitol was closed to the public on March 12, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The building has slowly opened in stages with strict restrictions still in place.
The United States Capitol in Washington, DC, is a symbol of the American people and our government and the meeting place of the nation’s legislature, the US Congress. The Capitol is a working office building, but it is also the place where visitors from around the US and the world come to learn about American democracy.
Construction of the Capitol began in 1793. In November 1800, Congress, along with the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court, moved into the newly completed north wing. The south wing was completed by 1807, but in 1814, the British burned the Capitol during the War of 1812. What is now the center portion of the Capitol was completed in 1826.
