Weather Briefly Traps Biden on Air Force One

President Biden's return to the White House Monday took place in conditions that at times resembled Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. Biden, returning from an eight-day visit to Delaware for the holidays, was stuck on Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base with his staff for around half an hour while snowplows cleared a path for a mobile staircase, NBC reports. After Biden left the plane, heavy snow made it impossible for a helicopter to take him to the White House, so his motorcade moved at a crawl through the snowstorm over the next hour.

Up to 10 inches of snow was forecast for the DC region, the AP reports. White House press secretary Jen Psaki called off her first briefing of the year and federal offices across the capital were reduced to emergency personnel only. The Senate delayed its first vote of the year. The Hill reports that when the chamber briefly convened Monday, the only senators present were Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin, from Wisconsin, and Patrick Leahy, from Vermont. "Apparently to a number of groups around this area, it came as a surprise that it was snowing and that snow can be slippery and probably should have gotten some plows out," Leahy said, (More President Biden stories.)