The call went up from the House floor again and again – “No Bill. No Break.”
House Democrats going into the eleventh hour of a sit-in calling for gun control legislation heard House Speaker Paul Ryan was making his way to the floor and increased the chant they had repeated throughout a day of speeches calling for legislative action in response to the Orlando attack, the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
Members of the public watching up in the galleries chanted back the lines that have trended on social media since earlier Wednesday, asking for the House of Representatives to vote on gun control legislation before leaving for the Independence Day holiday break.
Ryan could barely be heard calling for a vote as House Democrats chanted and waved a sea of white papers bearing the names of gun violence victims. They booed Ryan and called out, “Mr Speaker give us a vote.”
During the 15-minute vote, Rep. Ted Deutch called out to “My Republican friends,” but could not finish speaking as he was shouted down. Democrats responded by singing the Civil Rights anthem “We Shall Overcome” while Republicans looked on silently.
The chaotic vote capped an intense and unprecedented day on the House floor.
For a second consecutive week, Democrats in the U.S. Congress commandeered a chamber to demand action on gun violence that has shattered numerous American communities — most recently in Orlando, Florida.
