Offices Closed, Capitol Work Continues

W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 23, 2001 -- Their offices still closed Wednesday while hazardous materials teams scoured for anthrax, members of Congress and their staffers nevertheless made due with whatever space they could find and returned to work.

The Capitol itself was the only congressional building open for business. All six main office buildings on Capitol Hill were closed for testing since last week, when Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office was contaminated with anthrax spores that burst out of a letter mailed from New Jersey.

Some lawmakers set up shop in vacant spaces under the Capitol dome, others used office buildings blocks away. With little room for staff to work, most kept in touch by cell phone from remote locations. Some were dispatched to temporary space in other federal buildings. Some showed up to the makeshift offices, only to leave frustrated because phones and computers were not set up for them.

The Russell Senate Office Building opened this morning. The Dirksen building, which houses the Senate mailroom where anthrax spores were discovered, will remain closed pending further environmental testing results. Daschle's building — the Hart Senate Office Building — will remain closed for at least a week while traces of anthrax are cleared from the building. The corridor where the poison letter was opened could be off-limits for several weeks.

Legislative Wheels Keep Turning

Open or not, the work of Congress continues. The House has already begun making contingency plans to work out of Fort McNair, an Army post just a few miles from Capitol Hill, in the event of another emergency that shuts down congressional offices.

One lawmaker is making arrangements to help the House keep functioning after a deadly attack.

Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., is pushing a constitutional amendment that would let governors fill House seats if 25 percent of the House were killed or disabled. The replacements would remain in office for 90 days, until a special election could be arranged.

Under the Constitution, governors can already appoint senators in the case of vacancies, but House seats must be filled by special election.

Back to Bickering

For now, however, the crisis at hand is more typical. Lawmakers are squabbling over legislation.

The Senate has passed a measure to create a federal security force at airports, but it's being blocked in the House by Republican leaders who oppose giving the federal government more power and reach.

"The American people do not have the confidence that they need to have in flying on an airliner today that hurts the airlines, that hurts the economy, and it hurts the American people," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said today, joining a group of senators pressing the House to act. "We need to pass this legislation."

Democrats, who control the Senate, were more direct in their talk of the Republicans in charge of the House.

"To have a few people, for reasons of their own, holding up in the House, because they know they can't win if it comes to a vote," Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said, "it disgusts me."

The House today approved a compromise anti-terrorism package hammered out with the Senate in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Next up in the House is an economic stimulus package.

Brian Hartman, Ed O'Keefe, Linda Douglass and Dean Norland contributed to this report.