This clear shot of the Capitol might become off-limits to film crews. Photo by owash

The House Appropriations Committee approved today an amendment that would continue to permit film production companies to continue to shoot in Union Square, the park off the west side of the U.S. Capitol that last year was transfered from the National Park Service’s oversight to that of the Architect of the Capitol.

After the transfer, which was authorized as part of an omnibus spending bill last year, there was great unease over whether film crews would be allowed to continue using Union Square as a shooting location. The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in the square offers direct sight lines of the Capitol dome, perfect for those establishing shots used in movies and television shows ostensibly set in Washington. (As cumbersome as it is to obtain a filming permit from NPS, the agency is not nearly as skittish as the Architect of the Capitol, which has not allowed a non-news production inside the building since 1994’s Quiz Show.)

In January, the Capitol Police announced a temporary extension of granting film permits for Union Square. In the months since, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s office has pushed to make the extension more permanent.

The amendment passed today, attached to the fiscal 2013 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill, would do just that. In a press release after the vote, Norton applauded the amendment’s passage.

“I am gratified that the Appropriations Committee has given the Capitol Police Chief the express authority to allow commercial filming and photography in Union Square,” she said. “With this precedent, we have an even stronger case for allowing commercial filming and photography beyond Union Square.” In April, Norton suggested opening more land around the Capitol—either the Independence Avenue or Constitution Avenue sides—to commercial photography.

“An expansion would benefit both D.C. and the nation. More films—and the large crews and tax dollars they bring—would be made in D.C., and films and photographs of the Capitol help illustrate our democratic system to the rest of the world,” Norton said today.

One step at a time. Today’s amendment, should it survive the rest of the Congressional sausage grinder, is a good step forward. But there are still plenty of other hurdles to making a movie in D.C.