Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001 | 9:17 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- Congress was back at work today, defying terrorists who wanted to see America shut down another day, lawmakers said.
"All of America will stand together to make sure that we rebuild and that we fight back," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said today on the Senate floor. He urged U.S. officials to use economic, diplomatic and military means to defeat "forces of evil."
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said retaliation should be swift and "violent" against the terrorists responsible for attacking New York and Washington.
"This was an act of war against the United States," Ensign said. "That is absolutely an appropriate statement."
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., today addressed the terrorists as "pathetic excuses for human beings" and vowed America would "rid the world of the stench of your existence."
Nevada's four lawmakers in Congress were touched in professional but also personal ways by the attacks.
The husband of Ensign's legislative director, Pam Thiessen, is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's speech writer at the Pentagon. Mark Thiessen was unhurt. His office is on the "outside ring" of offices, along a side adjacent to the side of the terrorist attack.
"If the terrorist had decided to attack around the corner, it wouldn't have been such a happy ending for me," Pam Thiessen said. "I really feel for the families who were affected by this."
Thiessen and her husband could not immediately reach each other due to phone outages and overwhelmed cellular phone networks.
Ensign's staff prayed in his office. Meanwhile, Mark Thiessen thought to call his wife's mother in Maine. His wife did, too, about two hours later, and her mom told Thiessen her husband was safe. Later Tuesday night at their home, it was a "very dramatic homecoming" when the two reunited.
"He had known he was OK. But I had been frantic with worry," Thiessen said.
Berkley had joined a streaming mass of members of Congress and their staffers evacuating all Capitol Hill office buildings, apparently a first.
Capitol Hill police reportedly shouted at people to move out and away from buildings as confusion and rumors of possible incoming planes heightened anxiety. Berkley fled to her home several blocks away.
So did Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who had monitored the attacks on television during a 30-minute meeting with Commerce Secretary Don Evans, who had come seeking Gibbons' support for a trade initiative. Gibbons also vowed "to find the culprits of these unspeakable acts and bring them to justice."
House and Senate lawmakers planned today to draft a resolution condemning the attackers. About 150 members of Congress assembled on the Capitol steps Tuesday night. They sang "God Bless America."
Senate Republican leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., today said, "There's much to do. We've got to find out how this happened."
Capitol Hill Police took a number of congressional leaders into protective custody Tuesday. Reid, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, along with Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., were whisked away by helicopter. Reid and Daschle left to spend the afternoon at an undisclosed location at about 1:30 p.m., Reid spokesman Nathan Naylor said.
Also in Washington Tuesday:
Flags around town flew at half-mast.
Health Secretary Tommy Thompson said his agency had sent medical supplies, mortuary service teams and special emergency medical teams to New York and Washington; Transportation Secretary Norm Minetta ordered all airline traffic grounded and said passengers will see higher security in the future; Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld said the Pentagon was functioning and open; Attorney General John Ashcroft said all resources of the Justice Department would be allocated to find the terrorists.
Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington had heightened security; so did Fort Detrick, home to the Army's main germ warfare laboratory.
Cellular phone and pager networks were overwhelmed, stressing and stranding callers.
Drivers in the nation's capital described traffic as mayhem as federal buildings were evacuated and workers rushed home; traffic lights shortly after the attacks were programmed to handle rush-hour traffic; several key roads were closed, further snarling traffic.
Outside the Washington area, sites all over America closed, from unprecedented closings of major league baseball parks nationwide to the Las Vegas Stratosphere Tower, Seattle Space Needle, the New York Stock Exchange and Walt Disney parks in Florida and California. CNN Center in Atlanta was closed to tourists, but not reporters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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