Thank you Seil, and Bart.
Now I am still undecided. When I found them two days ago, they were all white shoots (7 basal breaks on two bushes, in total!), one 4" long growing horizontally under several inches of leaves. After being uncovered for a day, they were turning red, and the daylight (even if it's foggy and not sunny) will cause them to grow upward rather than just horizonal under the leaf cover, so that's a good thing, I think. In the past, canes have been plagued with canker. Last year I was very diligent in keeping leaves cleared away, and I almost no canker, so that makes me think the leaves in the past could have been a cause. But then I think about all the roses everywhere that are actually planted below the bud union where it freezes and mounded with leaves that are wet, etc., and they are pruned to the ground every spring after leaves are removed, and they come back year after year just fine, so that would be a reason not to be concerned about the leaves mounding over the base....just thinking aloud here!
We are not considered frost-free (at risk for 32 and below into the 20's) until March 27, but last year it stayed above 32, and so far it has this year also, but usually if we have some, it is in Dec. and Jan.
Guess I will keep a close eye on them, and on the weather, but maybe I will let the rest of the leaves stay for the time being if it fosters basal breaks!