About 35 million people visit the Smithsonian museums in Washington every year, making them the most heavily-trafficked museums in the world. But the buildings are crumbling, and the Smithsonian is asking Congress for $500 million to fix them. – CNN
A DANGER TO ITSELF: “I’m amazed that you could have the greatest portrait in the United States, of George Washington; you could have the Declaration of Independence desk, the desk on which it was written; you could have the hat that Abraham Lincoln had on the day he died, in buildings that really not only possibly endanger them, but the American people coming to look at them.” – CNN