NH Reps to Work From Home During House Shutdown
WASHINGTON – When the need to search the Capitol and congressional office buildings for more anthrax shut down the House for the first time in almost 200 years yesterday afternoon, New Hampshire’s members of Congress decided to work from their district offices during the unscheduled recess.
But Reps. Charles Bass (R-NH) and John Sununu (R-NH) said the shutdown will not seriously disrupt the business of the government.
Bass said he had planned to work a full day Thursday from his district office in Concord before the shutdown was announced, and he thought it was “prudent of the Speaker” and the House leadership to enact the recess.
“It’s really only one day, so I don’t think it has a significant impact at all,” Bass said. “We’ll have a very, very busy week next week. We’re just plain not going to let these people stop us. We just won’t let that happen.”
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) announced the decision Wednesday morning. The House will be closed from 4:30 p.m. Wednesday until 7:30 a.m. Tuesday to allow a complete search of the Capitol and its buildings for anthrax.
More than 30 people from the offices of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), as well as several Capitol Police, have tested positive for anthrax, which does not indicate that they are infected with the bacteria. A letter post-marked Trenton, NJ, containing the bacteria was sent to Sen. Daschle’s office and opened Monday. Hundreds of Senate staff members have been tested for anthrax exposure and been given three days worth of anti-biotics.
Sununu said in a statement Wednesday that the weekend adjournment will “ensure that our operations can continue without interruption when we return to session next Tuesday.” He will be working from his district office in Manchester during the shut-down and all calls to his Washington office will be transferred to New Hampshire, where there will be a full staff to answer questions.
Betty Koed, assistant senate historian, said the House has not shut down because of an emergency since the War of 1812 when the Capitol was forced to close. She said that in the 20th century, parts of the building were closed temporarily during incidents such as shootings in the House Gallery in the1950s and a small bomb explosion in the 1980s.
Bass said the shutdown “hardens the feeling that we are in this [war on terrorism] together as both Republicans and Democrats.”
“We’re in this together,” he said. “We’re going to remain calm, cool and collected.”
Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) said the House is closing so the Capitol and office buildings can be gone over “top to bottom with a fine-tooth comb to make sure there is no [more] anthrax in the buildings. The idea is to show that this is not a panic situation; it’s a serious situation. We do have anthrax in the building and we need to deal with it.”
“Some 1,400 people who may have been exposed were tested,” Smith said. “Those results will be back no later than tomorrow morning. The anticipation is that those will be negative.”
The Senate will be in session on Thursday but the Senate office buildings will be closed. Smith will be working from his office in the Senate side of the Capitol building if votes are held tomorrow, said a spokesperson for the Senator.
Smith said he does not think the shutdown will affect congressional business “really at all. Nothing has been really disrupted in terms of Senate business for the most part aside from anxiety and concern for the people who work for us.”
Former Senator Gordon Humphrey (R-NH), who served in the U.S. Senate from 1979 to 1990, said that “in the context of the national mood [the shut-down] will substantially heighten the level of fear of bioterrorism.”
Humphrey said that though “the government does have a stockpile of vaccines” in various locations across the country, the number “is far too meager,” and it is important to increase the amount of these vaccines.
“If I were governor of New Hampshire today I would be lobbying intensively and unremittingly to ensure this happens,” he said.
The shutdown will “have a noticeable effect” on Congress’s ability to conduct business, he said, “because this is the busy time of the year. It only slows down the process.”
