"This was a softening up of the beachhead and I think we were successful," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., after he, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and five House members met with Principi for more than an hour in the Capitol.

The 70-year-old Canandaigua hospital is one of 14 VA facilities targeted for closure in a nationwide restructuring and cost-cutting plan for the VA's vast medical care network.

Principi made no commitments.

"He listened and felt pain at some of the stuff we described," said Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-Clarence, Erie County. "I thought he had a willingness to look at the options for the future of a place that has a unique service."

An independent commission will hold a public hearing on the recommendation to close the Canandaigua V.A. at 9:30 a.m. Monday in the Building 5 auditorium at the hospital on Fort Hill Avenue.

Principi will make a final decision by the end of December after getting recommendations from the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services commission.

Initially, he said he would either accept or reject the commission's overall recommendations.But he recently told lawmakers from Massachusetts and Connecticut that he might look at specific recommendations that concern him.

Earlier, Rep. Amo Houghton, R-Corning, who represents Canandaigua, said Principi would be told he is playing with "dynamite" if the Canandaigua hospital is closed.

"When I'm in Canandaigua and talking to people of my age who were fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and need the psychiatric and medical help of a hospital within driving distance, you have to listen to these guys and nobody did," said Houghton, 77.

Also attending the session were Reps. James Walsh, R-Onondaga; Sherwood Boehlert, R-New Hartford, Oneida County; and Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport.