Members Move to Makeshift Offices in D.C.
By Mindy Finn
WASHINGTON-When Connecticut members of Congress returned to session Tuesday, they had to adjust to working under unusual circumstances in makeshift offices.
Some House members and aides managed their business from the second and fifth floors of the General Accounting Office building about a dozen blocks from the Capitol. Other members, including Reps. James Maloney, 5th District, and. Nancy Johnson, R-6th District, worked from home. Sens. Joseph Lieberman and Christopher Dodd worked out of their auxiliary offices in the Capitol building.
Each representative was temporarily assigned two rooms in which to conduct business. They were instructed not to have more than four aides working out of the limited space.
The Senate set up temporary workspace on the sixth floor of the old main Washington Post Office building next to Union Station and just few blocks from the Capitol. Maloney chose to work from his apartment, a walk of about a five to ten minutes from the Capitol complex, and instructed his staff to work out of their homes.
He had sent his legislative director, Tom Santos, to assess the work area at the GAO building early Tuesday morning and, based in part on that assessment, decided it would be more efficient for his aides to work from home, press secretary Betsy Arnold said.
Phone calls to Maloney’s Washington office are being forwarded to the district office in Waterbury, but can’t be forwarded to the GAO. Arnold said the district office is prepared to handle all calls, and the staff decided that having another telephone number at the GAO for constituents and the press would make things too confusing.
Maloney’s chief of staff, Jim Hart, was told the House offices would remain closed on Tuesday during a conference call for all House members on Monday evening . He was also then told that the offices in the GAO were designated as temporary workstations.
Arnold said the computer systems at the GAO were inferior to the ones Maloney and his staff could use at their individual homes.
Johnson isn’t letting the displacement from her permanent office slow her down, said her press secretary, Jennifer Schaming. Johnson spoke on the House floor about the National Trails System Act Tuesday afternoon.
“Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, we are still able to get the same quality of work done,” Schaming said. “We are going to go full speed ahead today.”
Schaming, working from home, said that some staff members are at the GAO offices, but that Johnson is working out of her home on Capitol Hill. She has about 10 staff members working with her there.
Those working at the GAO are trying to get additional equipment to supplement the limited office supplies they have available to them right now. Schaming said they are focused on getting a more portable computer, like a laptop, that they can bring from one work location to another.
“A lot of our job is just communicating with each other,” she said.
Schaming said she misses the access to her legislative files, which have the most up-to-date information for inquiring callers. They were left behind in Johnson’s office in the Rayburn House Office Building.
Without the files, “I have to call [Johnson’s legislative assistants] with 20 questions,” Schaming said. She said she was thankful that she doesn’t receive many phone calls inquiring about other issues besides the current unusual congressional work conditions, she said.
Schaming said she was confident that her duties as press secretary would not be significantly limited. “I brought my press book with me, which is the key to what I need to do,” she said.
“The only thing not usual in our office is that we are not receiving any mail,” she said. “Usually our legislative staff spends a lot of time answering mail from constituents.”
Schaming was planning to bring the laptop she was working on at home on Tuesday to Johnson’s home on Wednesday morning so that she could work more closely with the Congresswoman and other aides.
As for Congresswoman Johnson, she “took her BlackBerry [paging device] and her phone, so she is all set.” Schaming said. Arnold said, however: “We are ready to get back.”
