Michael Douglas landed on Capitol Hill on Wednesday with surprisingly little fanfare. The actor (and Mr. Catherine Zeta-Jones, to boot) wasn’t testifying, nor was he headlining a news conference. Instead, he was just having a quiet meeting with Sen. Richard Lugar in the Indiana Republican’s office. (Well, quiet except for the dozen photographers or so who showed up.)
The two sat down for a chat about reducing global stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. Why the topic, you ask? Well, besides being a foreign policy expert, Lugar co-authored with former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., a law to secure and dismantle nukes in the former Soviet states. And Douglas is a board member of the anti-proliferation Ploughshares Fund.
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Douglas told us he first got interested in the issue for two reasons: “In 1978, I made a movie called ‘The China Syndrome’ [which deals with nuclear safety], and I followed through on that,” especially after the Three Mile Island meltdown occurred just after the movie’s opening.
He added: “My father [actor Kirk Douglas] came from Belarus, and I found out that the town he comes from was downwind from Chernobyl, and I got into Ploughshares from there.”
Douglas also met with other members of Congress, Italian Ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta and former Defense Secretary Bill Cohen.
Meanwhile, across the Hill, pop songstress Sheryl Crow was among the witnesses at a subcommittee hearing on two breast cancer bills. Crow, who beat breast cancer in 2006, said, “I don’t live in the political world.”
But she’s not without her savvy. Subcommittee chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., told the room that she “visited several offices to try to get this hearing.”
And she knows the right people to flatter. “I’m honored to be in the presence of [committee member and fellow survivor] Sue Myrick, who is a rock star in the breast cancer community as far as I’m concerned.”
And later: “Thank God for Sen. Edward Kennedy, who I love and adore, who took this through the Senate committee.”
She also wasn’t afraid to express her frustration. In prepared remarks, she said, “Last April, I was up here … meeting with a number of you, and with members of the Senate, to talk about this bill. Frankly, I thought after all the support, after all the promises I got last spring, after eight years of Congress supporting this bill, by now it would be law. Yet here we are.”
Also spotted: Actor Joe Pantoliano, who’s no stranger to Capitol Hill. He was up there Wednesday in advance of his appearance today on mental health issues.
