published Jun 22nd 2016, 3:34 pm, by Billy House

(Bloomberg) —
Democrats staged a sit-in on the U.S. House floor Wednesday in an effort to force Republicans to allow a vote on a plan to ban suspected terrorists from buying guns.

“Now is the time for us to find a way to dramatize it, to make it real,” Democratic Representative John Lewis of Georgia said on the floor while surrounded by fellow lawmakers from his party. “We have to occupy the floor of the House until there’s action.”

The No. 2 Democrat in the House, Steny Hoyer of Maryland, said the protest would continue “until the House is allowed an opportunity to vote.”

“We will be there as long as it takes, every day,” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a parallel rally on the steps of the Capitol, joining her colleagues in a chant of “no bill, no break.” The House is scheduled to leave after Friday on a one-week recess ahead of the July 4 holiday.

In the wake of the Orlando shooting, Republican Senator Susan Collins has been negotiating a compromise gun-curb proposal that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said would get a vote on the Senate floor. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, after expressing a few reservations about the Collins proposal, told Politico on Wednesday that he would vote for it.

John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, told reporters Wednesday that he is “optimistic” that he and Collins will be able to work out a deal on a gun measure that would unify the Senate, with a vote either “today or tomorrow.”

But House Republican leaders have made no commitment to hold a vote on Democratic gun measures in their chamber.

A group of House Democrats occupied the well of the House floor on Wednesday just before noon and disrupted efforts by Republicans to call the chamber to order. As the sit-in continued throughout the afternoon, a number of Democratic senators joined their House colleagues on the floor, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

“The House cannot operate without members following the rules of the institution, so the House has recessed subject to the call of the chair,” said AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Speaker Paul Ryan.

‘No Other Way’

“I would say at least 50 are here,” Democratic Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky said in a message from the House floor. “We just decided there was no other way to get action, since we can’t filibuster. Our members are all in on this, and leadership is totally supportive.”

The Republicans, he said, “don’t know what to do. It will be interesting.”

President Barack Obama tweeted his support of the protest, thanking Lewis for “leading on gun violence where we need it most.”

The Democratic sit-in interrupted a planned debate on a spending bill that funds the Treasury Department and other agencies, as well as another vote on a repeal of part of President Barack Obama’s health-care law.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who held the Senate floor for nearly 15 hours last week in an effort to demand votes in that chamber on gun curbs, was among the many Democrats who joined the House sit-in.

“We will not alter the way Congress responds to the mass slaughter of our constituents without ripping up the usual script and demanding change,” Murphy said in a statement.

The Senate voted Monday on four gun-related measures, all of which were defeated, but negotiations are ongoing over a compromise proposal.

House Democrats said they are getting increasingly frustrated by the lack of debate in their chamber.

‘Are We Blind?’

“What is the tipping point? Are we blind? Can we see?” Lewis said. “How many more mothers, how many fathers need to shed tears of grief before we do something?”

The Democrats said they are also demanding a vote on expanded background checks.

“As the worst mass shooting in our nation’s history has underscored, our country cannot afford to stand by while this Congress continues to be paralyzed by politics,” the group wrote in a letter to Ryan. “We urge you to lead the House into action and work with both sides of the aisle to pass commonsense solutions to keep American children and families safe.”

Republican leaders, who control the C-SPAN cameras, shut off the feed to the House floor soon after the sit-in began. But Democrats continued their protest. C-SPAN aired footage of the House floor rally broadcast from a lawmaker’s mobile phone via Periscope, a streaming service.

At some point, some of the members in chamber began to sing “We Shall Not Be Moved,” an African-American spiritual that echoes back to past non-violent demonstrations in the South and elsewhere.

Back in 2008, House Republicans staged a similar sit-in, occupying the House floor to demand a vote on offshore oil drilling.

–With assistance from Sahil Kapur and Steven T. Dennis. To contact the reporter on this story: Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net Laurie Asseo

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