$100M Plan For House 'Continuity'

House Republicans want to add $100 million to President Bush's request for anti-terrorism spending so lawmakers could meet elsewhere if terrorists attacked the Capitol.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., requested the money this week, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Young, R-Fla., and several House aides declined to provide details of how the money would be spent. Young said the funds would be used to ensure the "continuity of the legislative branch" if the Capitol is attacked.

A Senate aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the money would help prepare a location where the House could conduct business in case the Capitol is unusable, and would probably include such items as telephones, computers and voting equipment.

House and Senate leaders stepped up contingency planning after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington and the Oct. 15 receipt of an anthrax-laden letter by aides to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. Both chambers have already designated secret locations in the Washington area where they would meet in case the Capitol was devastated or could not be used.

The Capitol was evacuated the morning of Sept. 11, but lawmakers resumed meeting there the following day. When the anthrax letter was received, Congress ended its week early and the Capitol was closed so it could be checked and given a precautionary cleaning. Some of Congress' separate office buildings were closed for weeks or months while they were decontaminated.

Young said Hastert asked him to attach the money to an emergency $27.1 billion measure that President Bush has requested for anti-terrorism and other programs. Two aides said the money will be included in a classified section of the bill, for which no details will be provided.

A Democratic aide said the request would probably get bipartisan support. A Senate aide said that chamber was likely to back the proposal, and said no decisions had been made on whether the Senate would seek funds for its own contingency planning.

Asked about the proposal, Hastert spokesman John Feehery said, "Right now, we'd rather not comment."

Last fall, Congress and the president provided $600 million for this year for security for the legislative branch. The money, included in the emergency $40 billion anti-terrorism package that lawmakers approved in December, was largely for such expenses as Capitol police overtime and construction of a visitors' center outside the building.

Young said Hastert also wants to add $650 million to the new anti-terrorism bill so states can upgrade their voting equipment. The House and Senate have passed separate bills that would finance improvements in election machines and procedures, but they have yet to produce final compromise legislation.

Young said his committee will try to keep the overall bill within the $27.1 billion price tag Mr. Bush proposed. But he said Hastert's requests — and others — may well add to its costs. Some aides say privately that they expect the bill to eventually cost several billion more than the president has proposed.

Young said he wants his committee, which controls one-third of the $2.1 trillion federal budget, to vote on the bill in two weeks.