House cancels votes due to snowstorm

The House will no longer hold votes on Monday night due to the snowstorm that is set to slam the Northeast.

Furthermore, a controversial border security bill originally slated for a vote on Wednesday has now been removed from this week’s schedule. The bill would require the Department of Homeland Security to prevent all illegal crossings into the United States within five years.

{mosads}The House is only in session through Wednesday this week to accommodate the House Democratic retreat in Philadelphia on Thursday and Friday.

A House GOP leadership aide said new timing for a vote on the border security bill has not yet been determined. Leadership had intended to gauge support among the rank and file about the measure on the floor on Monday night, as well as in the weekly conference meeting Tuesday morning.

Originally, the House was set to consider six bills to combat human trafficking on Monday and vote at 6:30 p.m. But snow is expected to accumulate up to two inches in the Washington, D.C., area Monday evening. 

Lawmakers in the Northeast, including from New York, Boston, Rhode Island and Philadelphia, would likely have been unable to make it to votes on Monday evening, with as much as three feet of snow expected to fall in some areas through Tuesday.

The House is now slated to vote on the remaining human trafficking bills on Tuesday, as well as begin consideration of a measure to expedite exports of liquefied natural gas.

The liquefied natural gas bill is now the only agenda item for Wednesday.