For the first time in nearly three years, the U.S. Capitol will open today for the general public and visitors will no longer need an escort. This is according to the House sergeant at arms.

The public will be able to visit the House galleries with a pass received from a member’s office.

The Capitol closed to visitors in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. The Capitol Visitor Center, also closed during the pandemic, will fully reopen in March. Staff-led tours of the Capitol will resume on Saturday but will be limited to the Hall of Columns, Crypt, Rotunda, and Statuary Hall. A phased reopening of the Capitol began last March with a limited number of tours. The Capitol Visitor Center partially reopened in May. In September, the final phase of reopening began. It included allowing House members to lead tours on the floor when the House is out of session. They can also conduct tours for constituents to the House Galleries when Congress is in session. The member of congress or a member of his or her staff must remain with the visitors throughout the visit.

When Republicans won back control of the House during the midterm elections, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy sent a letter to U.S. Capitol Police Chief Manger, House Sergeant at Arms Walker, and others with the request to develop plans to fully reopen the House by January 3.

McCarthy said the “American People have been restricted from exercising their constitutional right to petition the first branch of government” and that the closure involved “973 days without being able to freely visit their Member of Congress at the Capitol Complex” or to “access the House gallery and watch their representatives vote on legislation in person.”

At that time, appointments and an escort were still required to enter House office buildings and meet with members or staff.

The events of January 6 played a role in the reopening schedule, too. There have been concerns about the safety of the lawmakers, though there have not been any reports of incidents since January 6 on Capitol Hill. The dangers have been to the lives of the Supreme Court justices recently, not lawmakers at the Capitol.

In March, Manger gave staffing shortages with Capitol Police as the reason for not fully reopening the Capitol, saying it needed to be done in phases. On December 19, Manger told the Senate Rules and Administration Committee that staffing increases should enable the department to meet its target of fully reopening the Capitol to pre-pandemic levels within the next three months. He also addressed additional staffing needs.

It’s time the Capitol reopened. Joe Biden said the pandemic is over, after all, as he toured an auto factory in Michigan earlier this year. Authoritarian liberals want to hold on to the last little bits of pandemic power that they can. McCarthy, if elected Speaker, promises to end proxy voting and other measures put in place in the House during the pandemic. No more mandates. Let people make their own decisions about masks and social distancing and boosters.