Tom never wants to spend a single buck of taxpayer money that's not absolutely necessary.

WASHINGTON — Protests by conservative lawmakers led architects to promise to add "In God We Trust" as the national motto and to engrave the Pledge of Allegiance in the new $621 million Capitol Visitor Center.

Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, had threatened to delay Tuesday's opening of the marble-and-stone center that took seven years to build at triple the original cost.

…"This is an intentional misrepresentation of our nation's real history and an offensive refusal to honor America's God-given blessings," DeMint said.

Republican Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, along with Republican Rep. Randy Forbes of Virginia, joined DeMint in the protest.

Nope, not one unnecessary dime.

In a recent letter to DeMint, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, and Robert Bennett, a Utah Republican, agreed to make several of the changes he'd sought.

"We agree in principle to support engraving 'In God We Trust' in stone in a prominent location within the Capitol Visitor Center; engraving 'The Pledge of Allegiance' in stone in a prominent location ... and removing the words 'Our Nation's Motto' from the Unity panel on the Wall of Aspirations of the Exhibition Hall ... and replacing it with a new panel," Feinstein and Bennett wrote to DeMint.

Feinstein is chairwoman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which oversees the new visitor center. Bennett is the panel's senior Republican.

The two senators acknowledged that it was a mistake to call "E. Pluribus Unum" the national motto.

Feinstein and Bennett noted that the changes compelled by DeMint and the other conservative lawmakers would cost $150,000.

Uh…