A Sit-In on the House Floor Over Gun Control
Congressional Democrats, led by Representative John Lewis, are protesting the House's refusal to vote on gun-control measures. We're providing live updates of their protest, and reactions, as it continues.
As the sit-in hits the 24-hour mark, we're shifting our continuing coverage to a new post. Scroll down below to see how the action unfolded on Wednesday, or follow along with us as we continue to update the story in real time here:
Democrats have been sitting on the floor of the House for 24 hours as they try to convince the Republican House majority to hold votes on gun-control measures. And it doesn't sound like they'll be leaving anytime soon. "We are going to hold the floor of the House of Representatives … until we can get the majority to do their jobs and give us a vote," Florida Representative and Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Thursday morning on CBS. "It is a cowardly act that they have not at least allowed a vote."
The House, it turns out, can bring timely, controversial legislation to a vote-just not the bills that Democrats had hoped would make it to the floor.
Shortly after 3 a.m. on Thursday morning, Speaker Paul Ryan pushed a bill to fund the fight against the Zika virus to a vote, The Hill reports. It was an unusual procedure-appropriations bills are rarely rushed through to a floor vote without debate. As Nora wrote, it represents a compromise-but a deal struck among contending Republican factions, and which includes provisions that seem sure to leave many Democrats dissatisfied, and which includes crucial differences with the Senate's measure, although it provides the same top line amount. The White House has already signaled its discontent.
A Ryan spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, explained the logic of the move:
Despite the publicity stunt on the floor, House Republicans were intent on not allowing these tactics to stop us from completing this important business. With that tangible accomplishment, we will be moving on to the previously scheduled district work period.
That's legislator-speak for "recess time." The chamber will rehearse the kabuki theater of the pro forma session at 9 a.m. on Thursday, but isn't scheduled to take another vote until July 5.
For Ryan, it means making the best of a tough situation. The Democratic sit-in may have eclipsed his rollout of a concrete legislative agenda, but by reacting with a measure of restraint and stressing his desire to keep working, he's adroitly avoided the sort of dramatic confrontation that might have proved politically disastrous.
House Democrats, a couple dozen of whom remained on the floor through the night, will reportedly meet this morning to decide on their next steps.
And just like that, the brief House session is over. Republicans gaveled the chamber back out of session shortly after 10:30 p.m. following a pair of votes unrelated to the Democrats' protest over inaction on gun control measures, which passed the 11-hour mark. (The House failed to override President Obama's veto of the resolution blocking a financial regulation.) For now, however, Democrats are continuing their sit-in in the well of the House chamber. A Periscope video broadcast on CSPAN and taken by Representative Scott Peters showed a group of Democrats giving speeches once again with the official cameras and the microphones off.