US House Democrats’ calls for gun control vote ignored as House adjourns until after July 4

Rebellious Democrats shouted down Speaker Paul Ryan when he attempted to restore order as their protest stretched into the night. As Ryan stepped to the podium to regain control of legislative business at around 10 p.m., he was met with chants of “No bill, no break!”

Democrat leaders were also singing “we will pass a bill someday” to the tune of the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.”

The scene presented a radical, almost shocking departure from the normal orderly conduct of the House. Around 3:15 a.m. ThursdayRepublicans adjourned the House until after July 4th over Democrats’ protest and ignoring their demands, but Democrats stayed on the floor into the wee hours of Thursday morning.

Republicans hoped to present themselves as soberly attending to business and Democrats as disruptive. Democrats said they would stay until Republicans yielded to their demands to hold votes on bills to strengthen background checks and prevent people on the no fly list from getting guns in the wake of last week’s massacre in Orlando, Florida.

“Are they more afraid than the children at Sandy Hook?” asked Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., referring to the 2012 shooting that killed 26 people, including 20 elementary school children, in Newtown, Connecticut. “What is so scary about having a vote?”

Rep. John Lewis, a veteran civil rights leader, asked what Congress has done, then answered his own question: “Nothing. We have turned a deaf ear to the blood of innocents. We are blind to a crisis. Where is our courage?”

Some lawmakers brought pillows and blankets to the house as the protest stretched toward midnight.

Rep. Elizabeth Esty of Connecticut had a sleeping bag, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts brought Dunkin’ Donuts for her House colleagues who were staying awake.

Other lawmakers also brought snacks, including some who broke House rules to eat on the House floor.

Despite the protests, the House still managed to pass a $1.1 billion Zika House-Senate measure. The legislation passed by a 239-171, but is expected to be intensely filibustered once it hits the Senate floor.

A spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan dismissed the Democrats’ protest as a “publicity stunt” and said Republicans “have plowed ahead to do what is needed to responsibly address” the Zika crisis.

Spokeswoman AshLee Strong said the House “is focused on eliminating terrorists, not constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. And no stunts on the floor will change that.”

Ryan dismissed the protest earlier Wednesday as “nothing more than a publicity stunt,” and made clear the House would not vote on any legislation that he said would “take away a citizen’s constitutional rights without due process.”

By evening, 168 of the 188 House Democrats and 34 Senate Democrats joined the protest, according to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office. Scattered around the House floor were signs reading “Disarm Hate.” Visitors watched from the galleries. A crowd of several hundred gun control advocates gathered outside the Capitol and cheered as Democrats addressed them.

Republicans had staged a similar protest in 2008. Democrats controlling the House at the time turned off the cameras amid a GOP push for a vote to expand oil and gas drilling. Republicans occupied the floor, delivering speeches after then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent the House on its August recess. Pelosi ordered the cameras turned off.

Republicans ultimately forced the drilling provision to be attached to a stopgap spending bill.

C-SPAN, a cable and satellite network that provides continual coverage of House and Senate floor proceedings, does not control the cameras. They’re run on authorization by legislative leaders.

Although the cameras were turned off Wednesday, lawmakers relied on social media to transmit video, using Facebook, Twitter and Periscope. C-SPAN broadcast live video streamed on Periscope and Facebook from lawmakers’ accounts. Democrats posted the Capitol’s main telephone number, which was overwhelmed, and urged constituents to call and request a vote. They also encouraged tweeting under the hashtag “NoBillNoBreak”.

Democratic senators joining the protest included Minority Leader Harry Reid, Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who had waged a nearly 15-hour filibuster last week to force votes in the Senate on gun legislation. Those votes failed Monday night.
Report by Fox News’ and Associated Press contributed to this report.