Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Visitor Center Plans Underway in Nation's Capitol

Aired September 11, 2001 - 08:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
VINCE CELLINI, CNN ANCHOR: From a basketball legend now to a real American hero. Millions of people visit the U.S. Capitol each year, some standing in line for hours waiting to get inside. And now, a multimillion visitor center expansion project is under way to make the Capitol more visitor-friendly.

Former Senator John Glenn is a spokesman for the project, and he's in Washington and joins us now.

Good morning, sir. Great to have you.

JOHN GLENN, FORMER ASTRONAUT: Good morning. Glad to be with you.

CELLINI: It's interesting to me how you came to be a part of this project. It goes back to your childhood when you were a visitor to our nation's Capitol.

Can you tell us about that?

GLENN: Well, as you know, when I was about 8 years old, I remember our first visit to Washington. I can remember to this day -- that's been many years ago now -- and I remember to this day, though, walking into that Capitol and looking up at the rotunda and then visiting each of the two chambers -- the House and the Senate. And what an impression it made on me as a young kid, and I think it has affected somewhat my whole attitude toward government. I won't say that led me into the paths of where I went later on, but it certainly gave me an awareness and an appreciation for the Capitol and for our country.

And I think the four million visitors that come here to the Capitol each year, this will be much better than to stand out in the rain and the cold and line up across the East Plaza out there. And this rendering that we see here, the artist's conception, is what this will eventually look like. You'll have a visitor's center in here. They can enter under here. There will be movies and artifacts and things like that that will be available.

It will be three things really: Educational No. 1 for the kids coming in there and inspirational. And I don't underrate that. I think that's a very important part of this whole thing. And No. 3, it provides far better security, so we don't have some of these incidents like we had where some of the policemen got killed here a few years ago.

CELLINI: Right. And there certainly are safety issues involved. And I know that there is, not only long lines and long waiting and heat for many elderly people, but can you talk about the safety issues as well?

GLENN: Well, the safety issues are a very important one, because this will give them more controlled flow than just having people milling around out here on this -- on the East Plaza that we have here right now. There will be entryways in here that you can go into the Capitol and into the House or the Senate chamber over here.

And also another factor, you know, we're a focal point of the whole world. The Capitol building is a symbol of our democracy. We have many foreign visitors come here from all over the world, and most of them want to visit the Capitol. And this is a far more impressive and a far better way, I think, of taking care of all of visitors, foreign and our own people here as well.

CELLINI: Senator Glenn, how much money is needed for this project? And where will this money come from?

GLENN: Well, Congress appropriated $100 million. The whole thing is estimated to cost about $265 million. There has been about $35 million pledged from corporations so far. We hope to raise $100 million from the rest of that $100 million from private sources. And that's what this drive is all about.

We hope everybody can participate in this. It's -- everybody should. You know, there's a precedent for this also. I might have preferred myself to see Congress just appropriate the money and do it. But we have a history, for instance, just a few years ago when they wanted to refurbish the statue on top of the Capitol. That was all done with private funds. So there is some precedent for this.

CELLINI: Senator Glenn, do you feel that Washington, D.C. is the tourist attraction or maybe the tourist mecca that it should be?

GLENN: Well, no -- well, I think it is probably the biggest single tourist attraction in this country -- everyone -- every family. You know, we have polls that show that -- I think it's like three- fourths of the people want to take their family to Washington -- want their kids to experience coming to this capitol city -- this leadership city for the whole world literally. And so we're -- in a way, we're just responding to what the people of this country already want.

I'd like to see more visitors to Washington also, not just from a money standpoint of tourists and business, but for the appreciation of what we have here -- the Capitol, Arlington, the monuments, Washington Monument, The Lincoln Memorial -- things like that I think are very, very impressive and give people a feel of their part -- their participation in this country when they have a chance to come here and visit.

CELLINI: Well, sir, before we go, I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about your 1998 space mission.

And can you tell us what was learned from that mission in terms of aging experiments at that time and since?

GLENN: Yes. Some of the things are still being looked at from that. What we were up there -- what I was up there to see was, you know, when the younger people go up there, they have certain things that happen to their bodies. Osteoporosis sets in. The body's immune system changes -- become less resistant to disease and infection. Protein replacement in the muscles changes.

Now, those are the same things that happen to the elderly to a large extent right here on Earth. So the idea was to compare my reactions to going into space again with the younger people with the objective of seeing if we can't find out what turns these systems on and off in the human body -- and we're making strides in that area too -- and the idea of being not only to permit longer-term space flight, but also to take away some of the frailties of old age right here on Earth.

That's exciting to think that maybe we opened the door for some things like that. And so, the experiments are going on. I'm hoping they'll put more people up there in my age bracket, so we have a database in a few years that means a lot more than just a database of one, which is me right now.

CELLINI: Well, back to the project now. And anyone can get involved. The Web site www.capitolvisitorcenter -- one word -- .org.

Senator John Glenn, a pleasure -- great talking with you. Best of luck with the project, sir.

GLENN: Thank you. Good to see you. Good to talk to you. Thank you.

CELLINI: Good to talk to you. Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.