At 1 40 p.m., federal workers wheeled "Break glass in case of emergency" gas mask cabinets into a Congressional press gallery.
And it was this which took Mrs Almon-Kok on a remarkable crusade: to ensure the installation of reinforced, shatterproof glass in all federal nurseries and eventually all federal buildings.
The huge window is a signature of the architect, Henry N. Cobb, who also designed the stunning glass-walled federal courthouse that opened in 1998 on the Boston waterfront.
Federal officials say that its large glass surfaces and proximity to the street made it particularly vulnerable.
And in their glass towers in Brasília, federal officials are veering dangerously close to repeating the mistakes of the past, Possuelo says.
(Glass-Steagall also created federal insurance of bank deposits, which is responsible for preventing bank failures, and which nobody has ever proposed to dismantle).
Most federal regulators are opposed to reinstating Glass-Steagall, which would force big banks to spin off hundreds of billions of dollars worth of business into independent firms.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., testified today at his racial-profiling trial in federal district court in Phoenix, a futuristic glass box that swelters like a greenhouse.
Bennington is a charming place with well-preserved old houses in styles from Federal to Queen Anne and with Tiffany glass and works by Grandma Moses in the Bennington Museum.
It began under Reagan, but it was Bill Clinton who deregulated the financial system by abolishing Glass Steagall and prohibiting the Federal government from regulating derivatives.
With glasses, however, they do meet federal vision standards and have worked as pilots for regional airlines.
