Clinton, D-N.Y., said that she and U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., have agreed to co-sponsor legislation that could force the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) Commission to throw out a hospital closure plan drawn up by senior Department of Veterans Affairs administrators in Washington and Albany.

"What we are trying to do is stop the process," Clinton said during a teleconference.

Unless the 15-member commission agrees to modify the plan substantially, they "would have to go back and do it again," she said.

Richard Larson, executive director of the CARES Commission, declined to comment Thursday, as did V.A. officials in Washington. "We haven't actually seen the legislation," said agency spokeswoman Karen Fedele.

Clinton said CARES funding would be held up under a proposed amendment to the Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill.

In Canandaigua, veterans and community leaders opposed to the hospital shutdown applauded the legislative announcement.

"We'd be very happy if this legislation by Sen. Clinton and Sen. Enzi came to be," said David Baker, spokesman for the We Care coalition of veterans and community and business leaders working to keep the 70-year-old Canandaigua V.A. campus open.

Putting a hold on CARES funding "would help slow down the whole process, so that they would have to take a hard look at the implications and what it means to the veterans," Baker said. "If these commission members do take a hard look at it, they will realize the folly of the plan."