Congress cancels votes ahead of snowstorm

WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- Congress closed its doors again Monday as another winter storm bore down on Washington.

Both the Senate and House of Representatives cancelled votes scheduled for Monday evening, as the decision was made to close the federal government was announced Sunday night.

The storm that began off the West Coast last week and made its way across the country has designs on the nation's capital to the tune of 3-6 inches inside the Beltway.

The House was scheduled to vote on a series of suspensions Monday -- now pushed to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday -- including a resolution calling for the end of violence in Venezuela.

In the Senate, a cloture vote on the nomination of Debo Adegbile for assistant attorney general was pushed from 5:30 p.m. Monday to noon Tuesday. Senators are also considering legislative measures to pressure the Kremlin to halt its incursions into the Crimea region of Ukraine.

“The United States and our European allies should immediately bring to bear all elements of our collective economic strength to stop Russian advances in Ukraine,” Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. and the ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement Sunday.

Monday's closure marked the fourth time this winter federal offices have stayed closed due to snowy weather, in addition to the seven other occasions when the government was open but delayed by two hours or gave workers the option to work remotely. Already this winter, the District saw more than 26 inches of snow, more than three times last year's total and 6 inches more than the annual average for the past three years.

[Office of Personnel Management] [Capital Weather Gang] [Politico]