Ever feel like politicians are taking your hard-earned tax dollars and throwing them into a ginormous money pit? Well, in this case they literally are. That hole the government ate in your pocket just got a little bigger -- try the 5 acre, 580,000 square-foot, 3 level underground Capitol Visitor Center.

The initial cost estimate for constructing this dig was $71 million, to be supplemented with private donations, but the price has since risen.

Let’s review:

$71 million …

$265 million…

$421.3 million…

$454.8 million …

$490.8 million …

$555 million

$584 million is the new cost estimate, according to testimony issued yesterday by the Government Accountability Office. Thankfully, the proposed $10 million tunnel between the new underground visitor’s center and the Library of Congress hasn’t run over budget… yet!

And while this project has been called the Capitol Visitor Center, it turns out a whole lot more has begun emerging from the mud. For example, 170,000 square feet of House and Senate office space to be used for recording studios, climate-controlled storage for the Senate gift shop and curator’s office, the Senate close-captioning service, rooms for parties and receptions (maybe Appropriators can begin sneaking down their for midnight earmarking parties), and additional private office space.