Police find nothing hazardous after part of U.S. Capitol complex evacuated

Spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider said police cleared a room in the Dirksen building and the courtyard of the Russell building, both near the U.S. Capitol, and found nothing problematic.

Part of Dirksen was evacuated after Capitol Police received a bomb threat by phone call, and police investigated a report of a suspicious package in that building.

People were not cleared from Russell, where an unattended lunch cooler was reported as a possible suspicious package, Schneider said.

The two buildings house various offices for U.S. senators and their staff as well as hearing rooms.

The Dirksen building evacuation interrupted a Senate hearing on the Transportation Security Administration, which is responsible for security at airports.

"The threat was determined false," said Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who came back after the all-clear to close the hearing he chaired.

(This version of the story was refiled to correct a typographical error in last paragraph)

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan; Writing by Susan Heavey and Emily Stephenson; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Will Dunham)