For the first time the US Senate has been sat in by women only, and the reason why may be surprising for some.
Senator Lisa Murkowski was the first person to notice the absence of males in the chamber, "something is genuinely different," she noted to the floor.
The Alaskan lawmaker was quick to state that the gendered arrangement was not orchestrated, and admitted it occurred after a huge snow blizzard swept the east coast of the country.
Senator. Lisa Murkowski
The storm caused Congress to close on Monday, and by Tuesday, which is when the all-female floor occurred, few lawmakers were able to make it back to Washington.
With only women present, Murkowski took her opportunity to speak to the house: "As we convene this morning, you look around the chamber, the presiding officer is female. All of our parliamentarians are female. Our floor managers are female. All of our pages are female,
"This was not orchestrated in any way shape or form, we came in and looked around and noticed that … something is genuinely different, and something is genuinely fabulous,
“Perhaps it speaks to the hardiness of women. That put on your boots and put your hat on and get out and slog through the mess that’s out there," she said.