add up to millions of dollars in lost productivity for taxpayers. >> reporter: first came snow-pocalips and perhaps the worst storm d.c. has ever seen in march. snow-quester. >> up to a foot of snow. >> the nation's capital in the crosshairs. >> reporter: only it didn't turn out that way. storm that was supposed to cripple washington -- >> stay off the streets. krp -- instead just made it limp a little with a lot of cold, with wet rain. >> i saw the snow and i was thinking it was a lot worse than it really was. >> reporter: nonetheless, dozens of flights cancel. federal offices threw up the shutters. from the education department to the irs to the fbi. congress met but postponed a hearing on homeland security. the white house even called off the daily press briefing. hard to tell if reporters enjoyed the break or not. it's also hard to say how much all this costs. well over 2 million federal employees nationwide with the biggest concentration in d.c., so millions of dollars were