Winter weather brings Washington, D.C. to a halt

WASHINGTON -- Heavy winter storms brought business in the nation's capital to a halt on Tuesday, as at least four inches of snow prompted the federal government to effectively shut down.

Tens of thousands of people stayed home from work, shut in by a blast of arctic weather that battered the Northeast throughout Monday evening. Among government employees, only emergency personnel were required to work -- a group that doesn't include Congress, which is on recess this week for Presidents' Day.

Most D.C. landmarks, including the Smithsonian museums, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and others, were also closed for the day.

CBS News correspondent Chip Reid reports from the National Mall that the roads in D.C. are almost completely empty, filled with more snowplows than cars.

The snow that fell, Reid notes, is relatively light and fluffy, so there haven't been many broken tree limbs and downed power lines.

Ahead of the winter weather, several lawmakers took the opportunity to head south to sunny Cuba, where the temperature is hovering around 70 degrees. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Washington, are scheduled to arrive in Cuba mid-day on Tuesday for a two-day visit, and Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, and Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, arrived Monday for a trade visit.

The visits are among the first of their kind since President Obama's decision to normalize U.S.-Cuba relations in December after more than 50 years of hostility. A previous congressional delegation including Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, and others traveled to Cuba in January.