Senator Kennedy and staff conducted business in his Capitol Hill office today because of the anthrax scare. From left to right are Chief of Staff Mary Beth Cahill, and Senate Judiciary Committee staffers Melody Barnes and Olati Johnson.
(Globe Photo / David L. Ryan)
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No new positive anthrax tests at closed Capitol Complex
Senate, staff meet in cramped quarters
By John Whitesides, Reuters, 10/18/01
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate held a short work session in a nearly deserted Capitol complex Thursday as inspectors scoured office buildings for anthrax, but officials reported tests had found no infections or new exposures.
With the House and all Capitol office buildings closed for business, officials said the deadly bacteria appeared to have been contained in two locations in the Senate office complex and there was no evidence of wider exposure.
"We continue to receive good news," Deputy Surgeon General Ken Moritsugu said at a midday briefing. "At this time, there are no further positive results."
On Wednesday, 31 congressional staffers were found to have tested positive for exposure to anthrax since the bacteria was found Monday in a letter mailed to Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, one in a series of anthrax-laced letters sent nationwide.
Both the anthrax letter sent to Daschle and a similar one sent to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw in New York were postmarked in Trenton, New Jersey. A New Jersey postal worker was found Thursday to be the sixth person nationwide infected by anthrax.
The lack of infections or new exposures from the bacteria significantly eased tensions on Capitol Hill, where the House canceled its planned Thursday session and hundreds of congressional staff have lined up to be tested and get antibiotics.
"This is very good news. I'm very optimistic about the overall state of affairs," said Republican Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Senate's lone doctor.
Republican House leaders faced heavy second-guessing about their unusual decision to close at the end of business Wednesday for an environmental safety sweep. The last such halt to business was after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington.
"I think it's interesting, one house closes down on the rumor that the other one has a problem. That's an interesting precedent," said Sen. Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert said the closure was strictly precautionary, allowing inspectors to do a complete safety sweep of the complex.
"Nobody panicked. We're finding out what we're dealing with," Assistant House Republican leader Tom DeLay of Texas said.
Inspectors using gauze pads to collect samples swept Senate and House office buildings and sections of the Capitol on a hunt for the bacteria. The entire, sprawling complex, and the Library of Congress across the street, were closed except for the Senate side of the main Capitol building.
Moritsugu said tests have found no signs of the bacteria in the Capitol complex's ventilation system. The exposure was confined to two floors on the southeast wing of the Senate Hart Office Building, where Daschle's office is housed, and one machine in a mail room in the next-door Dirksen Building.
He recommended those who visited the fifth and sixth floors of the southeast wing of the Hart building after the anthrax-laced letter was opened should receive the entire 60-day antibiotic treatment.
But he said further nasal swabs were not needed for congressional staff. While 31 of the 278 tests conducted on Monday came back as positive for exposure, results on about 600 tests taken on Tuesday had found no exposures. Results of another 800 tests were not in yet.
While the Senate was open, the workday was hardly routine. The Senate held one vote to approve a noncontroversial $10.5 billion bill funding military construction and housing.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, meeting in a cramped room that had no chairs even for some senators, approved five of President Bush's judicial nominees.
Many congressional staff members got an unexpected vacation day or worked from home. Some Senate staffers tried to work out of their bosses' cramped "hideaway" offices in the Capitol building.
Most, but not all, senators have the hideaways in the Capitol building.
"You can come with me. Get some coffee and let's go," Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas told fellow Republican Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming when told Enzi had no place to work.
Even though the pace was slow and the halls nearly deserted, senators said they were glad to stay in session.
"It's our way of saying to the people we represent, 'We're taking care of your business,"' said Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison.
"We're getting back to an even keel now with a heightened sense of awareness," said Tennessee Republican Sen. Fred Thompson.
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