Congress’ New Cozy Confines

You could tell Congress was back in session Tuesday because the Senate was in a partisan fight over judges.

Other than that, though, it was hardly business as usual. An anthrax scare chased the House and Senate out of town last week, followed by derisive headlines such as the one in the New York Post that pictured House leaders under a headline that said, “Wimps.”

So Tuesday, with six large House and Senate office buildings still closed for testing for the deadly bacteria, lawmakers tried to show their pluck under fire.

Improvisation--and coziness--were the routine. Sen. Charles Hagel (R-Neb.) reviewed papers on the hood of his car. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) stuffed more than a dozen of her staff into a 12-by-20-foot cubbyhole--with just two phones--in the Capitol basement. And some male senators suffered through the indignity of working out of a room known as the First Lady’s Waiting Room.

“This is my office,” said Dan Maffei, a Democratic staff member for the House Ways and Means Committee, pointing to his backpack. Congress conducted its business out of briefcases and by cell phone and e-mail.

A heavily guarded Capitol remained off limits to tourists Tuesday, eight days after an anthrax-contaminated letter turned up in the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). A closed-circuit TV channel in the Capitol gave anthrax updates while playing soothing dentist-office-type music. Officials talked about burning piles of mail as a further precaution. And a defiant Congress sought to carry on its post-Sept. 11 agenda of passing anti-terrorism legislation.

Officials reported Tuesday that they found no additional traces of anthrax on Capitol Hill and planned to reopen one of the Senate office buildings that was closed last week. Of about 5,000 nasal swabs of congressional staff members, the number who tested positive for anthrax exposure remained at 28. They are taking antibiotics.

“We have been assured that the Capitol is safe,” said Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.). “We’re going to continue to do our work here.”

Daschle, commenting on the deaths of two Washington, D.C., postal workers who had inhaled anthrax, said that, while lawmakers were saddened by the loss of lives, “we’re resolved not to allow it to stop the democratic process or this republic, and we’re going to continue every bit as determined to carry out our functions as best we can.”

California’s Democratic senators, Barbara Boxer and Feinstein, and their staffs were among those working out of private hideaways inside the Capitol.

“It’s cramped,” said Boxer aide David Sandretti. “But we’re getting work done.”

House members, normally housed in three large buildings, were each given two small temporary offices on two floors of the General Accounting Office building.

Each lawmaker, however, was limited to one laptop computer, two phones, no more than three staffers--and one box of pencils.

Not everyone wanted to use the makeshift facilities. Aides to Rep. Mary Bono (R-Palm Springs) worked out of her suburban Virginia house. A Bono aide said they didn’t see a need to use the temporary office because calls to their Capitol office were forwarded to Palm Springs, and most staff members have cell phones and home computers.

Still, the need for a central meeting place became evident when a number of congressional hearings were announced at still-undetermined locations.

Lott said he was having trouble tracking down senators to whom he needed to talk.

“I was scrambling around the Capitol building trying to find their offices,” he said.

But noting that the troops abroad and postal workers at home are facing difficult circumstances, he added, “I’m not going to complain.”

Some senators hoped to return to their offices soon, perhaps as early as today. But the Hart Senate Office Building, where the anthrax-contaminated letter to Daschle was found, could remain closed for weeks for decontamination, some officials said.

Daschle said it is possible that some mail will have to be destroyed. He asked those who had written to lawmakers to “bear with us.”

Feinstein, whose office is in the Hart building, said that she is dispatching about 10 Washington staff members to California to conduct business.

“I’m asking people to please communicate through our California office,” she said.

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) tried to cope with the events with a sense of humor. If some of the offices open today, he said he would be willing to double up, even if his roommate is a Republican--all in the name of bipartisanship.