The Hill News

A plane delay because of the D.C.-area thunderstorms on Thursday morning nearly cost Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) his ride to Washington â€" and almost forced the cancellation of the rare session called to adopt a $600 million border security bill.

Schumer and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who was driving into D.C., were scheduled to preside over a brief session to approve the legislation approved by the House earlier in the week.

But Schumer’s flight from New York was delayed for an hour because of the D.C.-area storms, and he nearly missed the session. That would have left Cardin alone and therefore unable to convene the chamber under Senate rules.

Schumer said he intended to be early and very nearly was late instead.

“I got an early flight, 7:30, I went on Weather.com right after the Yankees won last night, around midnight, and it said, ’No rain, no anything,’ ” Schumer told reporters. “Then I get on the plane and w! e pull out, but we stop: Thunderstorms in Washington, unexpectedly.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God,’ because I knew usually it takes hours and hours. I thought, 'All these people are waiting, Ben is driving in. ... But miracle of miracles â€" at 8:25 after an hour of nervousness, we took off and I got here at five minutes before 10.”

Schumer and Cardin then executed a smooth session that saw the adoption of the border-security bill as well as a resolution honoring the late Sen. Ted Stevens, who died late Monday in a southwestern Alaska plane crash.