The East Coast is still digging out from this weekend’s blizzard. In Washington, the side streets of Capitol Hill look suitable for running the Iditarod. But the U.S. Senate did meet this morning.
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For all of 10 minutes. And that included the Pledge of Allegiance and an unhurried opening prayer from the Senate chaplain.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski was one of two senators to show up. She said she couldn’t help notice that both of them – herself and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine – are female. So was just about everyone else in the chamber, like the clerks and the parliamentarians, who ensure Senate rules are followed. Even the Senate pages on duty, Murkowski said, were an all-female team.
“Perhaps it just speaks to the hardiness of women,” she said, during the opening/closing remarks of the session. You “put your boots on and put your hat on and get out. (You) slog through the mess that is out there.”
She said she spent a good portion of the weekend shoveling, and felt stronger for it. She also spent some time posting wintry snapshots on Facebook. One showed her shoveled brick walkway, leading to a snowy Washington street.
Murkowski says many people have asked if these are just normal conditions for an Alaskan. Not this year.
“In fact,” she said on the Senate floor, “we got as much snowfall here in the D.C. metropolitan area as Anchorage, my hometown, has had accumulated over the course of this season. “
Little business was accomplished in the Senate today. Murkowski postponed consideration of her energy bill until tomorrow, when more senators might be present.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
