Freeze! Snow Stalls DC

By Abby D. Phillip February 13, 2014

(Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

Washington, D.C., doesn't exactly have the best reputation when it comes to productivity, but when it snows, all bets are off.

D.C.'s share of the snowfall that blanketed much of the East Coast in the last 48 hours has effectively shut down the U.S. government.

The White House cancelled its daily press briefing and sent the media home at 9:45 a.m.

Vice President Joe Biden had planned to make the trip to Maryland's Eastern Shore to give congressional Democrats a pep talk at their annual retreat, but that trip also was cancelled because of weather.

Meanwhile, Democrats stuck in Cambridge, Md., for their three-day getaway seemed to be getting a bit of cabin fever.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer hit the dance floor to - of all things - Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's rendition of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire."

Congressional offices are closed and hallways were nearly empty.

But not everyone in Washington buys into the D.C.-snow mentality.

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and other lawmakers who were raised on snow and ice laughed in the face of a mere 10-or-so inches.

"Its business as usual here" in the Murkowski office, said the senator's press secretary, Taylor Thompson.

To rub it in, Murkowski tweeted a photo of XtraTuff snow boots.

But with most of the Hill radio silent, Washington reporters were spinning their wheels and in search of snow day television. Naturally, they took to Twitter in the hope that Neftlix would release the second season of "House of Cards" a day early.

Netflix, on the other hand, isn't taking the bait.