NH Delegates say Anthrax Threats Won’t Stop Them
WASHINGTON – As hundreds of people waited in line on Tuesday to be tested and treated for potential anthrax exposure in the nation’s capital, New Hampshire senators and congressmen stressed that now, more than ever, business must go on.
The U.S capitol complex is the latest location to be tested for anthrax exposure. The Capital’s public tours have been stopped indefinitely, and all mail deliveries suspended, after a staff member opened a letter laced with anthrax in the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Monday morning. But according to members of the New Hampshire delegation this means a slowdown, not an end, to their daily routines and long-term projects.
“It’s going to take quite a bit longer to get mail into the office,” said Rep. Charlie Bass, R-NH. “Maybe a 24 hour delay.” The only major difference now, according to Bass, will be that correspondents may not be answered as quickly. Bass said he had no concerns or fears about anthrax or his safety, choosing to trust in the protective measures of the Capital Police.
“We’re going to do the business of Congress, and not allow these people to interrupt it,” the Congressman said. In contrast to some rumors on the hill that Congress would try to finish business quickly and get out of Washington, Bass said, “I’m in the business of doing the work of a nation· If that demands that we stay in for the rest of the year, that is what we will do, and if we get our work done, we will go home.”
Sen. Judd Gregg’s, R-NH, spokesperson Jeff Turcotte, agreed that business might be slowed down by the mail delays. He said he didn’t think the delays would “stifle anyone’s voice,” and encouraged constituents to keep in touch via phone, fax and email. Turcotte said they haven’t had any scares in Gregg’s office, which is a block away from the Hart building where the anthrax scare occurred.
“To be honest with you,” Turcotte said, “The American public has had to make some changes since Sept. 11. The first was airports and travel. Now you can’t just show up five minutes before a flight. You have to make different arrangements. The first tangible, fundamental change people had to make was in travel, [mail] may be the next for us.”
All incoming mail is currently being collected, screened and X-rayed, several blocks from the Capitol.
Sen. Bob Smith, R-NH, said in a written statement, “the Senate has suspended mail delivery and I have instructed my staff not to handle any mail, and to follow procedures for caution about suspicious packages.” Smith’s Manchester office was evacuated yesterday when a mysterious package arrived. It turned out to be a false alarm however and employees were allowed to return.
Smith said police asked that any staff members or Senators who visited the Senate Hart building in Washington Monday be tested through the Senate Health Services testing program.
“Although my office is located in the adjacent Dirksen office,” Smith said, ” Some staff members from my personal office who visited the area, and staffers from my committee office located in Hart, have been tested as a precaution. I personally have not been tested as I do not believe I have been exposed.”
Bass said neither he, nor his staff members were tested.
Rep. John E. Sununu’s press secretary Barbara Riley said their office is “following the continuous updates from the House Postal Operations and the Sergeant at Arms. We immediately suspended opening mail upon receiving the first alert from the Sergeant at Arms and have received no mail since.”
“Obviously we are concerned for the staff in Senator Daschle’s office,” she said. “But have confidence that the authorities are handling this matter in a thorough and orderly manner.”
Authorities sealed off the wing surrounding Daschle’s office in the eight story Hart building Tuesday, and provided testing and treatment to anyone who had been in the building on Monday and was potentially exposed to the anthrax.
Waiting in hour-long lines, a wide array of concerned people including Senators and their staffs, reporters and maintenance workers, who were in the Hart building Monday, lined up to be tested in the same manner that most of the 40 people working in Daschle’s office were tested immediately after the letter was opened.
“The medical response was much as you’ve heard from other places in the country,” said Dr. John Einsold, Capitol Attending Physician at a press conference on Monday. “Appropriate people were identified who potentially could have come into contact with the exposure. They have been swabbed and they will be tested to see if they indeed to have any of the spores· In the meantime we will treat them with Cipro.”
All people tested were given a three-day supply of the antibiotic and told to check back in on Thursday.
The letter, similar to the one sent to an NBC employee last week, carried a Trenton, New Jersey postmark, according to Postal Inspector Tony Esposito and FBI officials. The material was sent to the US Army Bio-Lab in Fort Detrick, Maryland for testing, said Capitol Police Lt. Dan Nichols at a press conference immediately following the event.
Daschle said on Monday, that he felt there was no immediate danger for his staff, given the quick and direct response by health officials.
“I believe that the circumstances are well under control in my office,” Daschle said at Monday’s press briefing. “I did contact other members in my leadership just to warn them that something may occur in their offices as it has in mine, and the president had called earlier today and we discussed the matter as well.”
