Category: Sorboni Banerjee
Racing The Clock: A Day in the Lives of Smith and Sununu
WASHINGTON – Breakfast at the White House, appointments with constituents, racing from committee meetings to hearings, votes, floor debates· serving in Congress is a balancing act, and now two New Hampshire lawmakers have one more thing to juggle – a primary contest for a Senate seat.
Although Rep. John E. Sununu, R-NH, and Sen. Bob Smith, R-NH, are heading for a showdown next year over Smith’s Senate seat, their Washington schedules offer little hint of the approaching primary.
What does emerge from their day-to-day dealings is a distinct contrast in style between the two Granite State lawmakers. Three-term Rep. Sununu, 37, is the studious and quiet, conservative “rising star,” and Smith, 60, the “outgoing” and slightly maverick 17-year veteran of Washington politics.
Smith, as the Senate incumbent, says he’ll win support by continuing to serve New Hampshire as he has for years. “My constituents are my boss,” Smith says. “Therefore do a good job and they’ll hire you again.”
The one time high school history teacher describes himself as a “blue collar guy’ who “fights for the little guy.” He fancies himself a real life Jimmy Stewart in his role in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” which was Senator Smith’s first ever campaign slogan. An autographed copy of the movie poster hangs in Smith’s office.
“I think people know who I am,” Smith says. “They know what I stand for.” But the man once known as a stalwart conservative confounded many colleagues with his sudden interest in environmentalism, and his break from the Republican party last year after a brief run for President.
However, the wall in the reception area of Smith’s Senate office is covered to the ceiling with framed, signed photos of GOP political luminaries: Smith with President George Bush, President Ronald Reagan, and Bob Dole and Smith’s wife Mary Jo smiling next to first lady Barbara Bush.
Sununu has his share of high-level political contacts as well. It could be said that politics is in his blood. His father, John Sununu, was governor of New Hampshire, and chief of staff to President George Bush.
But Sununu says it is his MIT engineering degree and Harvard business school background that sets him apart from his House colleagues, and helps him serve his small business driven state. The books and collectibles stacked on tables in his office are a tribute to the congressman’s background: “A Budget For America,” “A Taxpayers Guide to Federal Spending.” And a little NASA model spaceship.
Fellow New Hampshire Republican Rep. Charlie Bass says Sununu is “intelligent, awfully academic. It’s part of his personality.”
Smith’s forte, on the other hand, is his flair for getting along with people, according to Bass. He describes Smith as “very easygoing” and “good to work with because he is very easy to communicate with”. Smith’s “the kind of guy everybody likes.”
Sununu rides into work from his suburban apartment in Crystal City on the Metro, D.C.’s public subway system. On a recent morning he was called to the White House for a breakfast meeting but his office staff is already hard at work. Three staffers sit in the foyer typing diligently.
“We start around 8:30, could be earlier depending on what’s going on” his press secretary Barbara Riley says. The main staff office room is jammed with desks, congressional records, printers and copy machines. Riley’s first order of business every morning is to compile news clippings her boss should see.
“He’s a very well prepared congressman,” says Bass, adding that the best word to describe Sununu is “thorough.”
Sununu says a big challenge is to “simply move effectively from issue to issue, to remain focused, and to make sure you have the most current information possible.”
Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass, who entered Congress at the same time as Sununu, agrees with Bass that Sununu is a hard worker. The liberal Democrat added that even though Sununu is a conservative Republican, he’s someone Delahunt can trust.
“He has an ability to see the humorous side of what we do, which is important.” Delahunt adds. “He has his own brand of humor. He’s dry.”
Sununu can be notably sarcastic. “Nice Sambas,” he says, with a mock stern look at a young photojournalist wearing sneakers to his office. “You heading to soccer practice after this?”
But Delahunt says he has “no doubt” Sununu would make a promising Senator. Sununu has garnered quite a bit of support including from some of Smith’s Senate colleagues. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL, and Sen. Kit Bond, R-MO, have endorsed Sununu and recently held a fundraiser for him. But the other members of the New Hampshire delegation, Bass and Sen. Judd Gregg, are so far staying neutral.
Smith drives in to the Capitol in the morning, usually leaving his Virginia home at 6:30 to beat the traffic. “Sitting in traffic is unproductive,” Smith says. He’d rather use his morning hours to respond to constituents and to those who have expressed praise for him in letters to the editor.
“I probably write two or three hundred handwritten notes a week,” Smith says. On this particular Thursday morning he pens between 30 and 40 before his formal day begins.
“Everyone in the office helps me plan my schedule,” Smith says. “When you come in, you know some things are going to happen. You don’t know other things. I didn’t even know we were going to offer the amendment today.”
Smith has spent most of the morning pushing an amendment on the Senate floor, waving his arms and shaking a finger at his colleagues, as he urged them to support his amendment allowing courts to more easily deport aliens suspected of terrorist activities.
He returns to his office around noon to meet with staff members and get briefed about what’s up for that afternoon. There’s another vote scheduled, and Smith says the preliminary staff briefings are important to “make sure there are no surprises.”
Smith says that it’s difficult not to schedule every five minutes of his life. “You have to have time to go to the bathroom, or take a look at the news of the day,” he laughs.
“It’s tough to deal with a lot of the personal stuff. I’ve been putting off for two months getting a cap on my tooth· I can’t get time to go to the dentist.”
“When I leave the Senate,” Smith says, “I’m not going to have a schedule. I can tell you that!”
Smith at least has a senior senator’s advantage of having a secret hideaway office in the Capitol building. Smith said another getaway is the Senate reading room, where no one else but a student page with a message can enter.
But there is very little time in Smith’s day to slip away. In between meetings and votes there are always constituents to greet, like a group of high school students from New Hampshire who are in Washington to participate in the National Youth and Leader Conference.
Smith’s past as a teacher is obvious. “So, what’s on your minds,” he asks gently. Even when a bell goes off calling him to vote, Smith doesn’t rush their questions about war in Afghanistan.
Sununu has a more businesslike style. “Sununu is, number one, very smart. Number two, a good example of a workaholic. And three, has the level of motivation to cut through the maze of the legislative process and understand what’s going on,” says Rep. Van Hilleary, R-Tenn, who works with Sununu on the Budget Committee.
“It’s no accident that he is vice chairman of the budget committee,” says Hilleary, adding that if Sununu goes on to become Senator, he would be missed in the House.
“I think he’s a rising star,” Hilleary concludes. “He’s what we call in the South, the cream rising to the top.”
Next for Sununu is a working lunch with Scott Douglas, deputy chief of staff and White House Liaison for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In between bites, they discuss funding for relief efforts at the World Trade Center.
After lunch it’s a few interviews with local New Hampshire television stations. After the ritual small talk with the cameraman about last night’s Yankee game, and quickie interviews for Channel 9 and WNDS, Sununu is back in his office to finish up some telephone calls to radio stations.
He can’t sit still for long. Waiting for the radio stations to get ready, Sununu organizes and then reorganizes his wallet, and straightens the ink blotter and papers already in right angles on his desk.
Although his responses are prepared, Sununu answers without referring to any written notes, all the while pacing, gesturing and glancing into a mirror, as if delivering a speech to himself. Riley sits nearby, carefully recording his responses to keep everything in check.
Smith also has late afternoon press calls to make. Sitting in his dark, rolling chair, Smith puts the call on speakerphone. The reporters don’t understand his amendment. Wouldn’t deporting aliens simply suspected of terrorist activity violate their rights to due process?
“No!” Smith’s tone grows frustrated, as he reiterates points from his press release. He glances at his press secretary Eryn Witcher. She nods reassuringly as he rereads and explains what his amendment does until the reporters seem satisfied.
Next for Smith is a meeting of the Environment and Public Works Committee which he used to chair until the Democrats took back control of the Senate last spring. On the way from his office he greets people with a smile, wave, sometimes a pat on the back.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is on the EPW committee with Smith, pulls the senator aside after the meeting. The liberal Democrat has nothing but praise for Smith this afternoon. “Thank you so much,” she nods vehemently. She says she couldn’t have passed her amendment without him.
Smith says he likes to think of himself as a fighter. This is how he passes amendments. This is how he will defend his Senate seat. “If you don’t fight for something and you don’t earn it, then it’s not worth it. That’s just the way I am.”
But nothing, Smith says, is worth more than his family. “All the criticism in the world doesn’t matter,” as long as he’s got their approval, he says.
Smith is heading home this Thursday evening to be with his wife Mary Jo in New Hampshire. “Right now we have a kind of split existence,” Smith says. She and the family used to live in Virginia with him before their three children grew up. But now she’s living in New Hampshire, “working all day long on behalf of the campaign.”
Sununu and his family also live apart during the week. Sununu flies home to see his wife Kitty and three young children most weekends. He says his young family has no thoughts of moving to Washington if he becomes Senator.
“Travel is part of the job,” Sununu says. “You learn to take advantage of the more quiet times of the year. Thanksgiving. Christmas.”
Despite their differences in style, the work Smith and Sununu are doing is quite similar, as are their political philosophies. But for the next year they will both attempt to convince the voters of New Hampshire that they are the best man to take on Governor Jeanne Shaheen in the November election.
Public Service: Will Wanting to Help Today Work for Tomorrow
WASHINGTON - The contribution box at Keene State College for victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was filled with $1,500 in just two weeks, and the Red Cross was quickly oversupplied with blood donations. But nearly two months after the terrorist attacks, Keene State students are still asking how they can help, and a new organization in the nation's capital has a suggestion: Work for the federal government.
Jeromy Nelson, the president of Keene State's student body, said that the Student Assembly receives five or six calls a week from students who want to help. Student Assembly chairwoman Erin Peterson said students are constantly in contact with her office. "They want something tangible to do," she said.
According to the recently launched Partnership for Public Service, this new wave of concern and awareness could be transformed into an interest in public service careers and be the key to averting the "quiet crisis" that the nation faces if the federal government fails to attract talented workers. The government faces the prospect that 50 percent of its workforce will be eligible to retire in the next three years, including more than 70 percent of its senior managers.
And a report by the Partnership this week warns that the nation's ability to respond to disaster could be severely threatened over the next five years because many agencies that play key roles under the federal response plan face losses of up to half their workforces. Among the agencies facing the highest potential employee losses are the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Defense Department.
"The need for public servants to be involved is greater now than it has been in a very, very, long time," said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization was launched Oct. 23. with a $25 million grant from Connecticut businessman and former Justice Department lawyer Samuel J. Heyman.
According to a survey conducted for the Partnership, most college-educated Americans reject the federal government as a prospective employer. Before Sept. 11, only 16 percent of college graduates expressed any significant interest. And despite improved satisfaction with the government after the terrorist attacks, only 18 percent in an October poll said their interest in federal employment had increased as a result.
"The events of Sept.11 put a spotlight on the importance government has in all our lives," Stier said. But while Sept. 11 may have "opened the door," Stier said, it "did not complete the sale."
The Partnership is pursuing a strategy to enhance perceptions of public service, help the government recruit and train talented workers and improve the work environment. Its plan includes education outreach programs, increased communications and legislative reforms. "We need doctors. We need lawyers. We need researchers. We need analysts. We need scientists. We need teachers," said Kay Coles James, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, in a statement.
"We need people who will rise to the occasion and respond to the need for public service now."
James said that since Sept. 11, the federal government has received thousands of phone calls from students on campuses across the country who are interested in public service. But Stier said that some problems need to be addressed before people will really be attracted to federal jobs.
"Polls show that the number one barrier is that people are not familiar with the opportunities," Stier said. Another problem, he said, is that the federal government "does not reach out to people" and actively recruit students.
Keene State College's Nelson agreed. "They need to publicize diversity in the jobs they offer," Nelson said. "For example the FBI is not just drugs and terrorists. There's an accounting level. There are many different roles." Nelson suggested that federal agencies should advertise that their jobs suit specific talents and aspirations, similar to the way the "Army of One" campaign individualizes service in the military.
According to Stier, "any job you can think of that people want, the government wants," from lawyers at the Justice Department to art historians at the Smithsonian museums, to emergency response workers at FEMA.
But even when the background and the available federal job match, people are still reluctant to work for the government. Jim Craiglow, president of the Antioch New England Institute in Keene, said that Antioch's graduate students are trained "for the most part for positions in the public sector, whether it's school teachers, environmental scientists or clinical psychologists." But what may be "daunting about federal or state employment is the stereotypical bureaucratic nature," he said.
"I think one worries that he or she can actually make a difference," Craiglow said. "One sits back and says, 'Do I really want to put myself in the middle of all that, because my gut sense is that I wouldn't be able to make effective change.' "
Peterson, Keene State's Student Assembly chairwoman, said she used to think about going into politics and "always dreamed of being, you know, the President." But as an English and secondary education major, she's refocused her goals, she said, the idea of politics as a career is no longer likely.
"There's a lot of sneakiness in politics," she said. "A lot of people don't want to work in government fields because of the nasty stuff you hear goes on."
A study two years ago about how the government is portrayed on television showed that it was "at the bottom of the barrel," in the 1990s, said Pat McGinnis, the president and chief executive officer of the Council for Excellence in Government and a member of the board of the Partnership for Public Service. She said TV shows like "Law and Order" and "The West Wing" are among the more accurate and balanced programs that can help improve the government's image.
But Peterson said that people considering a career in government still "feel they won't get a lot accomplished. There are a lot of roadblocks."
Stier said making government jobs more rewarding and making the application process less lengthy and difficult are two of the goals the Partnership is trying to help achieve.
And McGinnis said that a comprehensive Web site on federal jobs would help as well. She said the Partnership also has plans for a student loan forgiveness program for college graduates who enter federal service, along with salaries that are competitive with those in the private sector.
"I know, in this generation, a lot of people care about money," said Krista Sielinski, a member of Keene State College's Student Volunteer Organization. "So if the position offers a lot of money, they'd be more likely to take it." She said she's always been dedicated to public service, but as a school teacher, and what happened on Sept. 11 has not persuaded her to pursue a career in federal government.
"I think farther along the line, people are going to be interested though," Sielenski said. "I know a lot of people want to make a difference."
"I've seen an interest grow," Nelson said of his fellow Keene State College students. "It seems as though more people are getting involved in political science careers·. I think a lot of people felt the need to volunteer. It [Sept.11] hit them as a shocker, and they felt as if they had to go do something." Nelson said he wants to get involved in politics at the state level, and perhaps even at the national level.
While only some students may pursue federal service jobs, New Hampshire residents have a long history of involvement in volunteer public services. 1,259 have served in the Peace Corps since it was founded in 1961. Currently, 52 people from the Granite State are in the Corps. The Peace Corps' regional office in Boston said there has been no dramatic increase in the number of people joining the organization since Sept. 11.
And this year, AmeriCorps, a domestic version of the Peace Corps, has more than 440 volunteers from New Hampshire. In return, AmeriCorps members receive an education award of up to $4,725 to help pay for college or pay back student loans.
The Road to a Healthy Economy
WASHINGTON - As lawmakers struggle to find a fast track to economic prosperity, a Democratic move to pump federal money into highway projects sounds good to New Hampshire transportation officials. It may, however, face a rough road in Washington.
"The need to stimulate the economy cannot be an excuse for reckless spending," Rep. Charlie Bass, R-NH, said in a written statement, about the Democratic economic stimulus package that failed in the House this week.
Bass's spokeswoman, Sally Tibbetts, said the congressman felt that spending more money on highway projects would not be a fast way to bolster the economy. Rep. John E. Sununu was traveling and could not be reached for comment.
Bass and Sununu both voted for the economic stimulus legislation that the House narrowly passed this week. The Economic Security and Recovery Act (H.R. 3090) would provide about $30 billion in tax breaks for individuals and $70 billion for businesses in the current fiscal year. It would also provide federal funds to expand unemployment benefits and provide money to displaced workers for health care.
The failed Democratic proposals would have included a $50 billion spending package for roads, airports and railroads to stimulate the shaky economy and would have also provided funds for increased security measures. Those proposals may fare better in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where the stimulus bill is now in the hands of the Finance Committee.
According to Tibbetts, Bass was reluctant to allocate money to projects that may not even be ready for construction. "The idea is to get money into the economy now," Tibbetts said. "Highway projects go through a local and regional planning process, and you need approval from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Highway Administrationá. All of that takes time."
But according to Jennifer Gavin, spokeswoman for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), a survey it's conducting indicates that 47 states would be ready to begin more than 2,200 projects within just three months.
Gavin said that New Hampshire has five projects, costing a total of $30 million, that can be started as soon as federal money comes its way.
"These projects represent actual necessary work," Gavin said. "They have immediate value in their own right. They would create a whole lot of jobs, and what's more they would do it very quickly." She said she did not know details of the projects at this time.
New Hampshire's transportation commissioner, Carol Murray, confirmed that the state has highway projects ready and waiting. These "off-the-shelf" projects are the "ones that we will have designed and permitted and ready to advertise for construction, that just don't actually have the funds to go forward." Murray could not provide a list of specific projects but said there were a number of them pending, suited to different regions and needs.
Murray said that overall, "increased funding is definitely something that would be very welcomeáparticularly in the northern region of the state, where large paper mills are in trouble."
She added that jobs created as a result of increased highway projects could be the alternative for people who depend on the logging industry and may end up without work as mills close. "Any money into public works would be great," Murray said.
Although increased infrastructure money was not included in the House bills, it doesn't necessarily mean the initiative is dead.
On the Senate side, Sen. Majority Whip Harry Reid, D-Nev., is strongly pushing for the government to invest in the nation's infrastructure as a way to create jobs.
"What the House has done is not going to be the final deal," said Sen. Reid's spokesman, Nathan Naylor. "It was narrowly defeated in one of the closest votes in a long time. What the House did were huge tax giveaways that won't do a darn thing to create jobs. The Senate will not make that mistake."
Democratic leaders are seeking support for a $5 billion spending package for roads, airports and railroads to both stimulate the economy and provide increased security.
Currently, New Hampshire gets about $135 million for highways, according to transportation commissioner Murray. "The figures I've seen from AASHTO show that if the $5 billion were released, that would mean [an additional] $26 million for New Hampshire," she said.
Naylor said "for every billion dollars we spend on infrastructure improvement projects, 42,000 jobs are createdá. That's a lot of families not having to worry about buying groceries and paying the rent."
Naylor added that infrastructure improvement projects do more than just create jobs; they also make the country safer "so no terrorist can poison our water supply, our bridges aren't vulnerable to attack and we're safe from mayhem on our highways."
After Anthrax: In Line With Our Worries
WASHINGTON - Exactly one week later, here I am againá standing in line with people waiting to be tested for anthrax exposure.
But I am not the subject of my own news story this time.
I am just one more reporter with a microphone, with a camera, with antibiotics in my shoulder bag, waiting at a D.C. hospital to get reactions from postal workers to the latest anthrax scare.
I look around at the men and women in their suit coats, blinking mechanically beneath the tall, thin spotlights balanced on the curbs for live shots. How many journalists and photographers here today are now on the Cipro antibiotic because they, like me, were on the fifth floor of the Senate Hart building last Monday when the anthrax-laced letter was sent to Senate leader Tom Daschle?
The media is a major anthrax target, said Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) during a phone interview last week, warning reporters to watch out, too. But waiting in line at D.C. General Hospital, in hopes of speaking with the frightened postal workers from the Brentwood facility where the letter to Daschle was processed, I realize that no matter the intended target, be it Tom Brokaw or President Bush, people all along a letter's path have become potential victims.
Since two postal workers who handle government mail in the nation's capitol died earlier in the day, a new fear is evolving, that the anthrax threat may begin before the mail even arrives.
A sizzling flare, spits purple low across the pavement, and a police officer rhythmically waving his arms, greet buses and cars filled with postal workers arriving at the hospital. Many of the people walking towards the entrance are visibly shaken, some even angry.
"I'm just afraid," said Sheila Butler, a postal worker at a facility that receives mail processed through Brentwood. "I think they should check whoever is dealing with the mail. á When [Daschle] first received his letter and they determined it was coming out of Brentwood, I think it should have been shut down."
Many postal workers waiting outside don't yet have the security blanket I do, a 60-day supply of Cipro that Capitol Physicians instructed me to take even though my nose swab test came back negative as expected.
"We're giving anyone on the fifth floor of Hart 60 days [of Cipro]," the same doctor who did my initial test told me when I went to see the physicians again Sunday. "So do you want them?"
"Do I want them?" I had asked. "Uh, well you're telling me I should, right?"
"You were in an area where people are being given 60 days of Cipro," was his answer.
What do you say to that? "Yes. Of course I want them. Even though I was far across a balcony, and tested negative, I will accept the same dosage of Cipro as my friends who intern for Sen. Daschle and tested positive for anthrax exposure because they were right there when the letter was ripped open."
I said, "Okay." I didn't know what else to do. And today, neither do these postal workers.
"We're getting too many conflicting stories," Butler said to me, shaking her head. "I'm really concerned." A postal worker from Brentwood told me that today they're basically just "playing catch up."
"We don't know how far it's gone," she said. "So today they've been gracious enough to provide us with transportation to be tested, and they've given us our pills that we take for the next 10 days."
Ten days, for people potentially exposed in a facility where two workers died! Why am I taking 60? "When that first letter came through, they could have said okay, we're going jump the gun, we're going to test everybody," the Brentwood worker said. But then she'd be taking 60 days worth of medication, like me, and wondering if it's necessary.
I glance at the other reporters telling the story into their cameras and tape recorders. An ambulance screams by us. It looks, from a distance, like any other crime or accident scene, any other breaking news story. And I think for a moment, that I am not scared of anthrax. I am scared that the latest episode already feels routine.
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."
Getting Tested for Anthrax is a ‘Dose of Reality’
WASHINGTON - NBC in New York City. Senate Majority Leader. Tom Daschle's office in the nation's capitol. The Manchester Post Office in New Hampshire.
As the list of suspicious package and white powder scares grows and diversifies, probably a lot of you are wondering, could I be the next one getting tested?
Or, you could be like me, not wondering at all, suddenly standing in line on Tuesday afternoon waiting for a nasal swab that will indicate whether there are enough spores of anthrax in you, on you, near you, for you to be considered infected with the bacteria.
On one level, the entire process resembles a visit to the DMV - the wait, the sense of being funneled along, the frustrated employees steering us though - except at the end of the line in the Hart Senate building in Washington D.C., you get a little envelope of Cipro antibiotics, instead of a license.
On another level, getting tested for anthrax is a scary dose of reality for me, reminding me that times really have changed since Sept. 11, and fear can be contagious.
My initial thought as I walk into the building is simple. "What am I doing back here today?"
First of all, I should not have been put at any sort of risk just by being near Sen. Daschle's office where the anthrax-laced letter was opened Monday, with a reporter and cameraman from Belo Broadcasting where I am an intern. But then, if there is an actual threat, what in the world would I be doing back in the potentially contaminated building? But testing is a free service for anyone who works in Hart, or even visited, and my feeling is, why not? Do it for the sake of making sure. And won't my parents feel so much better too?
So I troop back, because on CNN they tell me the anthrax found in the letter to Sen. Daschle was particularly potent, and of professional grade, and though officials think it's unlikely, maybe it got into the ventilation system. I am not alone. I end up becoming just one of about a thousand people who returned to get tested.
The eight-story building already looks different on Tuesday, than it did the day before.
Monday afternoon, the Hart Senate building had still been open to the public, and only the doors to the hallway of Daschle's fifth floor office were sealed, as a Capitol police officer stood guard. Tuesday, yellow tape blocks off his office and the surrounding area. Capitol police are planted on balconies, stairways, by elevators and across the wide, shiny, lobby floor.
I take off my bracelet and drop it in the little bin beside the metal detector at the entrance, so I can step through without setting it off as usual, and scoop up my bag as it clanks down the ramp of the x-ray scanner.
The offices in Hart have tall walls of windows overlooking a central lobby on the ground level. Many windows are plastered with American flags and patriotic signs. Spanning two floors is a sign painted in bold, black letters, "God Bless America."
Through those windows I caught a glimpse Monday, of an attempt to maintain "business as usual" that the President has reiterated so often. Many office staffers simply were going about their routines, answering phones, carrying stacks of files, jotting down notes at their desks. They stopped to glance out their office windows with amused expressions at the throng of reporters and camera crews gathered on the balcony facing Daschle's office.
Meanwhile, through the partially opened window shades in Daschle's office, police officers were visible briefly, along with health investigators in white lab coats. But that was the only sign of the investigation, for all of us waiting on the baloney for any sign of news.
I went from waiting on the balcony on the fifth floor one day, to waiting in line on the second floor the next. The line of people worried about being exposed to anthrax extends far up a ramp, through a doorway, and around the corner. I shift from foot to foot as I wait, and chide myself for probably seriously overreacting to the threat. I finally turn to the man behind me and ask him if he works in Hart and that's why he is back for tests.
"Oh, I walked through this building yesterday to the Credit Union," he says, nodding seriously. I glance down to the Credit Union on the first floor, and feel a little less like an alarmist myself.
About an hour later, I finally reach a table where I sign up on a sheet to be tested: name, age, social security number, phone number, and where I was in the Hart building on Monday.
A woman leans over with a sigh, and hands me what looks at first like a small injection syringe, but is actually just a plastic vial with a cotton swab inside. The wooden stem of the swab is about three inches long.
"Don't forget to fill in your information on the vial!" the woman shouts, as I walk past her. We have to fill in the same information on a little label, wrapped tight around the vial. I try to write as neatly as I can as I lean against the wall of a hallway leading to the conference room where health officials are conducting the tests. But if you see a scrolling headline on CNN, "Sorboni scribble scribble tests positive for anthrax" you'll know it was me.
The test itself is simple. I sit in chair across from a young Asian man in glasses, wearing thin plastic, yellow gloves. He has to take a quick break before testing me, because he's been conducting the test since morning, and it's now about two in the afternoon. He comes back, tips my head up, and slides the tip of a long cotton swab to the very back of each of my nostrils. It feels like it is briefly rubbing the inside of my face near the top of my cheekbones. A friend of mine, who interns in Daschle's office and went through the whole process Monday, describes it as "gagging your nose."
The test doesn't hurt at all. It just feels odd, perhaps as though I need to sneeze. Afterwards my nose runs a little, but by the time I add my swab to the box full of completed tests, and receive my three day supply of antibiotics, my nose feels pretty much back to normal. And once I get home again, I feel pretty normal too.
In all seriousness, I don't think I'll test positive at all. In fact, I don't think many of the people in line will. Not the man who was upholstering chairs in the building yesterday, sitting beside me as we wait with our swabs in the conference room. Not the girl from the building across the street who is worried because she has a fever. Probably not even my roommate who was in Daschle's office. But "better safe than sorry" spread through our minds, faster than any kind of bacteria, and that caution is probably a good reaction as we proceed in uncertain times.
Picking up the Pieces: A NH Native Leads Pentagon Evidence Search
WASHINGTON - On the one-month anniversary of the terrorist attacks, the FBI has alerted all local law enforcement to be ready to act.
"Certain information, while not specific as to target, gives the government reason to believe that there may be additional terrorist attacks within the United States and against U.S., interests overseas over the next several days," said an FBI news release.
Meanwhile, the investigation on information gathered from the first attacks continues. Much work is still being done to sift through the wreckage of the Sept. 11 attacks and recover evidence to make a case against those responsible.
The FBI is in charge of this effort and leading one of the evidence recovery teams is FBI. special agent Jeffrey Bedford, a native of Exeter, New Hampshire.
"Evidence doesn't lie, and it usually doesn't change," said Bedford, whose field office is in Washington D.C.
That reliability is a major reason the 43-year-old former Manchester police officer says he likes his current job as an FBI special agent specializing in evidence collection in Washington D.C. Bedford has been working for the FBI. since 1989. He is trained specifically to handle evidence collection at crime scenes, from rubble, to clothing to computers.
"If you can find good evidence, and its handled appropriately, you can build a case," Bedford said. "We're going to do whatever we can to piece together a case on this, in the event that anybody can be arrested." Bedford said he wants to be able to support with evidence any eventual arrests related to the Sept. 11 attacks.
"It's a matter of painstakingly going through everything," Bedford said. "I have about 15 to 20 people each day at a warehouse," he said, "going though the evidence to sort out what's valuable, what items might have been in possession of the terrorists who took over the plane, and determine which items might be appropriate for DNA analysis." Bedford did not say where the warehouse was located, but did mention that DNA evidence was sent to a lab in Delaware.
Bedford and his team of ten began collecting evidence almost immediately after the attacks. Bedford said he had been ready to head to New York City after hearing of the first attacks on the World Trade Center, but when the news came that the Pentagon too had been hit, he was assigned to that crime scene. Thirty other agents trained in evidence response from various teams arrived to work at the Pentagon as well, Bedford said.
"I was probably there around 10:30 or so, and set up a command post," Bedford said. "I was handling all the evidence that was brought to us."
"The scene was quite confusing," Bedford said. "So initially people were just bringing us stuff." Bedford said firefighters and rescue workers were basically handing over what they found as they walked around the area, from airplane parts to the metal pieces of desks.
"Firefighters were still putting out fires," Bedford said. "There was a lot of smoke. The impact on the building was pretty amazing in terms of the size of the hole. The whole area surrounding it was affected by smoke, discolored. The debris was just kind of hanging off the building."
Bedford held his hand out an angle, fingers limply pointing downward as he described the way the roof looked that morning. "The roof just kind of collapsed, but then it held where it connected to the top of the building, so you could see this pancake effect on the floors below it." Because of the tight collapse stacking the floors, Bedford said it was hard to see inside.
"It sounds cold almost, but I did what I needed to do," Bedford said. "I didn't pay much attention to the building. It's funny, because really training kicked in. I knew we had a job to do, and the search and rescue people had their job to do. Our job usually comes after a search and rescue team leaves, but in the meantime we had to get organized."
Bedford has been to attack sites before, three bombings, two in Saudi Arabia, and one in the American Embassy in Kenya, which he said helped give him the background to be a team leader for the FBI's evidence response team.
"Each one you learn from," he said. "This one was different. There was no bomb. The airplane was the bomb." But he said the evidence collection strategy was basically the same as when dealing with the other bombings.
Eventually, Bedford said he got an overhead blueprint of the Pentagon, with all the streets surrounding it, which he put it up on a board as soon as he could, to more formally organize searches through each area. The teams attempted to set up a grid to define search areas, and also orchestrated line searches, in which people walk side-by-side to scope an area. Bedford said that is the most effective way to find evidence in and on the ground.
But in two words Bedford simplified the reality of being an evidence collector at a crime scene, especially one as massive as the Pentagon. "It's gross."
"I didn't even go in the building to help with the recovery effort of bodies. But what happened is the rubble was brought to us, as the heavy equipment knocked down the building, and the body parts coming out of that smelled awful too. I can't get rid of that smell."
As for what made Bedford go from Manchester cop to FBI. agent, he said it was the lure of the F.B.I's reputation, and the chance to travel. He said law school helped him be able to "deal with bigger cases and have better organization, and big crime scenes require a lot of organization," to piece together all the elements. From the rubble at the Pentagon, to clothes strewn around an apartment, to someone's personal computer, Bedford has learned how to pick apart a crime scene.
"There is another little incident," he said with a chuckle, when asked if the Pentagon case was his biggest. "I was assigned to independent counsel Kenneth Starr. In fact, my team searched Monica Lewinski's apartment."
Bedford said he was in charge of handling all the evidence for the Lewinsky investigation, including the infamous stained blue dress. He also investigated Chandra Levy's personal computer, when she disappeared last year. And even with a case as seemingly vast as the attack on the Pentagon, Bedford said "it's essential for attention to detail."
The evidence response teams finished at the Pentagon Sept 28, but are still going through the evidence back at the office.
"You can't make judgments about what you have until you actually have the time to take a breath and see what's there, which is the same as a regular criminal case," Bedford said. "If you do a search on a house, you grab stuff that's relevant, and then you go through it piece by piece and that's when you start seeing the things that are valuable."
From Bedford's perspective "there will be an ongoing investigation for years."
Show Me The Money: Fighting for Special Education Funds
WASHINGTON - It is a decades-old promise that the federal government has yet to keep. When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was enacted in 1975, the federal government agreed ultimately to pay 40 percent of the cost of special education. So far, New Hampshire, along with other states, has not received anything close to that kind of money. But members of the New Hampshire delegation say they are continuing to work on changing that.
The law requires local schools to provide adequate public education for students with special needs.
"Between 20 and 25 percent of the annual school budget is currently spent on special education," said Bruce E. Thielen, director of special education, for Keene-based New Hampshire school administrative unit 29. Federal funds currently cover only about 15 percent of the cost of special education in New Hampshire.
"I want to see a plan put forth that can gain support in Congress, so however many years it takes to fully fund [special education], we reach the 40 percent level," Thielen said.
This week Rep. Charlie Bass (R-NH) and Rep. John E. Sununu (R-NH) have both expressed their support for full 40 percent federal funding for special education. They say they will vote in favor of a bill that would increase funding substantially when the measure reaches the House, which could be as early as today.
And back home in New Hampshire, local school officials and education advocacy groups are trying to drum up support and get people to contact their members of Congress to push for approval of the 40 percent funding measure for special education.
Members of the Keene School Board wrote a letter this week to the city's taxpayers, saying, "We need your help." In the letter, the board urged residents to contact and encourage their congressmen and senators to support an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the basic law that governs the amount of federal money allocated to local school districts, including funds for special education.
The ESEA, which is pending in the Senate, includes the Harkin-Hagel IDEA Full Funding Amendment, which would increase federal funds for special education by $2.5 billion a year for the next six years. The Keane School Board, in its letter, said that this would translate into an increase of almost $8 million to the Keene school district by 2010.
Senator Judd Gregg said in a statement that before 1996, when he began pressing for increased funds, the federal government paid about 6 percent of local special education costs. Gregg estimated federal funds would cover almost 17 percent of the costs this year, which, for New Hampshire, could mean $31.6 million.
There is also a nationwide campaign, born in New Hampshire, that is pressing for increased federal money for special education. The National Campaign to Fully Fund IDEA (NCFFI) was created in the fall of 1999 by Fidel Bernasconi, a retired publisher of the Hudson-Litchfield News in New Hampshire; Merrimack resident and special education policy analyst Alice Porembski; and Brandee Helbick, Miss New Hampshire of 1999, among others.
"I was always hearing people at school board meetings talking about 'We need more money for special ed., we need more money for special ed.,' " Bernasconi said. When he learned about the failure of the federal government to live up to its promise, he said he thought, 'Gee it doesn't seem fair,' and began work on the NCFFI.
The campaign worked to collect a million signatures in support of a petition calling for increased federal funding for special education. Congressman Bass helped NCFFI launch its petition drive by participating in news conferences in Washington and in Concord.
Porembski, said the campaign ended Sept. 30. The next step, she said, is to present the petitions in the nation's capital. Bernasconi and Porembski said that the group gathered about 300,000 signatures on the petitions. "That's not as many as we would have liked," Bernasconi said.
But Porembski said, "We're ready," and added, "Senator Gregg's office said they'd help us get to Washington."
She said her son, Corey, who has Downs Syndrome, has been e-mailing Gregg, as well as Bass and other key congressmen such as Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), and Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.), who have spearheaded the special education issue. Corey was only 12 when he helped launch the campaign and was featured last spring in Teen People magazine in an article titled "20 Teens Who Will Change the World."
Keene residents also had a chance to sign those petitions. Special-education director Thielen said that he was also involved in the initial meeting of the NCFFI. "I thought it was a good way to go," he said. "It was a nationwide effort to get people to impress upon Congress that we would appreciate full funding. I brought the petitions down here [to the Keene area)], and people were kind of lukewarm. They didn't know what it meant."
Even though the petition campaign is over, Bernasconi urged New Hampshire residents to continue to encourage their delegation to take action in Washington.
"It's time for the federal government to step up to the plate and pay what they've ordered," Bernasconi said.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services and Education voted on Tuesday to include a $1.4 billion increase in federal funding for special education this year, bringing the total to $7.7 billion.
This would mean the federal government would cover 18 percent of special education costs, according to Bass. Last year the federal government paid only about 15 percent, he said.
Sununu said in a written statement that there was "much more work to do to reach the federal goal set 25 years ago."
Bass said that "if there is truly an interest in making substantive changes, funding for special education must be made an entitlement," meaning that it would be guaranteed in the same way that Social Security and Medicare are guaranteed. Bass has introduced legislation to mandate the full 40 percent federal contribution by 2006.
Dairy Compact Expires, Leaving New England Farmers Worried
Washington, D.C. - An answering machine picks up at the Dairy Compact Commission's office in Vermont, with a recently modified message. "The Congressional Authority for the Northeast Dairy Compact has expired, and the commission is no longer doing business."
That ominous message could leave New Hampshire residents worried about the future of the Northeast Dairy Compact, which New England farmers, consumers and environmentalists in say protects milk prices, preserves family-run dairy farms and safeguards open land.
The compact ended for all six participating New England states on Sunday after Congress failed to enact legislation to keep it alive. According to Congressmen and lobbyists in the capital, however, the compact's end is not permanent.
The Dairy Compact is only "lapsing for a time," said lobbyist Bob Grey, a representative of dairy cooperatives in the Northeast for the last several years.
Rep. Charles Bass, R-NH, said that "efforts are underway" to attach an amendment to another bill that would permanently reauthorize the compact." He signed a letter on Tuesday urging his House colleagues to support the Sherwood-Etheridge-McHugh Dairy Compact Amendment during consideration of the omnibus Farm Bill.
Bass said the Farm Bill is expected to reach the House floor on Wednesday. If the amendment comes to a vote, Rep. John E. Sununu, R-NH, said, he would vote in favor of the compact.
The Northeast Dairy Compact, which had been in effect since July 1, 1997, ad ensured dairy farmers a minimum of $1.46 per gallon of milk sold to processors. If the market fell below that amount in any month, farmers were paid the difference through premiums collected from the processors.
Reauthorization will not be easy. The Dairy Compact will continue to face fierce and well-financed opposition from competitive dairy farmers in the Midwest and large dairy producers like Suiza Foods, Kraft, M&M Mars and Hershey, which benefit from the compact's demise.
Opponents will lobby hard against the latest act because "in addition to permanently authorizing the Northeast Dairy Compact, the Dairy Consumers and Producers Protection Act would allow other certain states to join," Bass said. An expanded compact would include New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware. The legislation would also create a similar compact for a large group of southern states.
A stud, published on Sept. 14 by the General Accounting Office indicated onl that midwestern dairy farms would lose 9-20 percent of their business to farms in the Northeast.if the Northeast Dairy Compact were renewed. But an expanded compact, and a new southern compact would bring potential losses up to 50 percent. The study indicated, however, that it is very difficult to determine the effects of the Northeast Compact on any region, even New England.
Earlier this year, the Bush Administration announced its opposition to any dairy compact legislation until it has a chance to establish a formal national policy, Bass said. Until now, the Dairy Compact has been a regional, not a national issue, but Bass said he is optimistic.
"The Dairy Compact has broad support from the governors, state legislators, farmers, consumers, environmental groups and farm organizations for the 25 states that have already passed dairy compact legislation," Bass said. "Legislation to reauthorize the compact has a total of 165 co-sponsors."
The recent expiration of the compact is not cause for immediate alarm, according to Commissioner Stephen H. Taylor of the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture. "Prices have been fairly good the last few months," Taylor said, "and should be for the next few months."
Former Northeast Dairy Commission's staff counsel, Thomas Lehner, agreed, saying that no payments had to be made to compensate New Hampshire dairy farmers since May and that none were projected through December.
But Taylor warned that the "price of milk is boom or bust," and dairy farmers should have a protective program in place. Lehner said that typically, "when the price [of milk] comes down, it crashes precipitously. If that happens in winter and spring, we'd begin to lose significant numbers of dairy farms."
"If this truly ends up being the end of the Dairy Compact, there will be very bad times ahead," said Stephan Burrington, agriculture director of the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation. New Hampshire has some 200 dairy farms, doing $54 million worth of business a year.
"Without the compact, the U.S. ends up with all the dairying taking place in factory scale operations in six to eight states, the easternmost being Wisconsin and Minnesota," Burrington said. "Everyone would have to depend on big farms in fixed-rate states ."He added that consumers in New Hampshire would end up with milk that's less fresh and of poorer quality. He likened the situation to Florida's, saying New Hampshire residents would be paying up to 40 cents extra a gallon in transportation costs.
Burrington also warned that 1.3 million acres of land used by dairy farms throughout New England would be at risk. "Only a fraction of it would be kept as open space," he said. "Subdivisions and strip mallsá not a very pretty future for rural New England."
Although the Northeast Dairy Compact is suspended, a research center for the compact still exists, and Lehner was working there on Tuesday. The research center is a private trusteeship in Vermont, which is winding down the commission's affairs. All of the commission's remaining assets, Lehner said, will be transferred to that center.
Smith Fights to Ban MTBE
WASHINGTON - It will be a "tough battle," but Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H. said he is fighting in the Senate to pass a bill addressing the problem of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a potentially carcinogenic gasoline additive that has contaminated 6,000 wells in New Hampshire.
"We need to get MTBE out of this gasoline, and we need to get the tanks sealed up, so we don't have any more of it leaking into the ground," Smith said.
Smith recently held a hearing in Salem on MTBE concerns, and visited with families in Richmond who had been impacted by MTBE. He mentioned one woman in particular who described the contaminated water in her home as smelling foul, and exuding a steam-like residue. She was very unsettled, Smith said, because she was pregnant at the time. Her child has no health problems thus far, but whether MTBE is dangerous has yet to be determined. There have been harmful effects on lab animals exposed to very high levels of the chemical, according to environmentalists.
"In the studies that have been done in animals, MTBE has been shown to cause multiple types of cancers in different animals: kidney, liver leukemia, lymphoma, and testicular cancer," said Dr. John Meinhold, Chairman of the New Hampshire Sierra Club's Environment and Health Committee, who has been working to ban MTBE since 1998. "If you have five different types of cancer in animals, is this something you want in your drinking water?"
Smith said his legislation would help families install tanks and filters, as well as facilitate the pumping and treatment of aquifers to get MBTE out of the wells. But the key, Meinhold said, is not getting MTBE out of the water, but out of gasoline. Eliminating MTBE from gasoline is also a part of Smith's legislation.
The Environment and Public Works Committee this week approved the bill introduced by Smith in May. Smith's bill would ban the use of MTBE in gasoline within four years. It authorizes $400 million for the clean up of contamination and prevention of further pollution caused by MTBE, and also provides funds to find clean, safe alternatives to MTBE. In addition, the bill would give governors the ability to waive the oxygen mandate in the Clean Air Act, which requires chemicals like MTBE to be added to gasoline.
Introduced in the seventies, MBTE is a synthetic compound added to gasoline to help gas burn cleaner in the effort to curb air pollution. But when MTBE seeps into the ground as a result of leaking tanks, transport accidents or even over-filling at gas stations, it can travel deep underground and reach drinking water supplies. Since air quality in the southeast corner of New Hampshire was not meeting the revised Clean Air Act standards of 1990, the area had to use fuels reformulated with MTBE. And now one environmental dilemma has been traded for another.
Solving the MTBE problem will be tough for several reasons. Smith said he expects the bill to face opposition in the Senate. Even if the bill passes and becomes law, MTBE is a difficult chemical to clean up, and an even more difficult one to find a replacement for in gasoline.
"MTBE slips right through to the groundwater since it doesn't bind to soils," said Meinhold, explaining that makes it more pervasive than many other chemicals.
One third of New Hampshire residents depend on private wells, Meinhold said, and many could be affected by MTBE over time. Even if the count in one area becomes lower, it could just be that the chemical is "migrating," not breaking down. "It may just be in your neighbor's well now," Meinhold said.
Smith agreed that the problem is widespread. "Imagine owning a beautiful home, in a nice area. You built your dream house. You're raising your children, your family. And suddenly you have three tanks in your basement with three successive filters on it, to get this MTBE out of the water you're drinking and showering in," Smith said of New Hampshire residents' plight.
"And if you want to sell your house, what do you tell your buyer?" he added. " 'Oh, well this is what we have to do to get a pollutant out of the water?' It's just not right that we allow this to continue."
Smith predicted passage of his bill is not going to be easy. "We're going to have to fight a royal battle in the Senate," Smith predicted.
"I say to people, my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, look, I mean I've got thousands of wells in my state that are polluted with this stuff and you know people are sick and it's just bad," Smith said.
Rep. Charlie Bass, R-N.H., said in a statement that he "would enthusiastically support similar legislation (to Smith's bill) in the House."
Bass has previously co-sponsored two bills asking to amend the Clean Air Act and change acceptable oxygen content for reformulated gasoline, to improve MTBE regulation, and prohibit any gasoline additive that could endanger public safety or the environment.
Sally Tibbetts, a spokesperson for Bass, said time is running out in this congressional session and most legislation is now focused on the recent terrorist attacks. While MTBE contamination is not just a New Hampshire problem, Tibbetts said, dealing with the MTBE issue might have to wait until January when Congress reconvenes.
