WASHINGTON – Frightened members of the House of Representatives headed for the hills yesterday at the first sign of anthrax in the Capitol – drawing jeers from senators, public health officials and New Yorkers.
The Senate, where anthrax actually hit and at least 34 people were exposed, sent a message to a worried nation by defiantly staying open for business, insisting it was safe.
But the Republican-led House of Representatives turned tail and ran home.
“I think the House made a mistake. We have to be careful, but we also have to heed the president’s admonition to go about our business,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).
“Everyone is striking a new balance, and I would have struck the balance a little differently.”
Although the only confirmed exposures as of last night were in the Senate, the Capitol offices of House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) were quarantined after an aide recalled seeing a letter that resembled the anthrax-filled letters that were sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw.
Sources said House and Senate leaders had agreed early yesterday to shut down Congress by the afternoon – a day early – so the buildings could be swept, but several senators objected and said that sent the wrong signal to Americans looking for leadership in the midst of a terror crisis.
Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a heart surgeon who has been advising everyone on Capitol Hill about anthrax, told the leaders they were “overreacting” and the “medical issues were being blown out of proportion.”
A source said Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) said something to this effect:
“Whatever precedent we set here will be the standard used throughout the country for every outfit hit by anthrax.”
But the 435 House members – whose offices are a half-mile from the Hart Senate office building where anthrax struck – went back to their home states after the shutdown decision by Hastert and Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.).
In the Big Apple, New Yorkers said the House leaders were wimps.
“I think it’s a sign of weakness,” said Allan Joseph, 20, a salesman in Brooklyn.
The Senate office buildings will be closed today, but the Senate side of the Capitol Building will remain open and senators said there will be official, recorded votes.
The Library of Congress, across the street from the Capitol, will be used for Senate committee hearings and some House committees also plan to meet there.
Kenneth Moritsugu, the U.S. deputy surgeon general, said the anthrax in the Senate had been detected only in Daschle’s office and in the Senate mail room – not in the ventilation system.