House Democrats briefly interrupted floor proceedings on Tuesday evening to push for a vote on legislation to prevent terror suspects from buying guns before lawmakers leave for recess at the end of this week.
As the House conducted votes on a series of noncontroversial bills, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) asked if the chamber could vote immediately on the gun bill.
Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), who was presiding over the chamber, denied Clyburn’s request on the grounds that it wasn’t relevant to the current legislative business at hand.
{mosads}Womack then ordered a vote on the next bill slated for consideration in the series. As the vote began, Democrats chanted: “No bill, no break!”
It marked the second time since the June 12 mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that Democrats disrupted House floor proceedings to protest the lack of votes on legislation to regulate guns.
Last Monday, Democrats shouted “Where’s the bill?” after the House observed a moment of silence for the victims of the Orlando massacre.
Earlier Tuesday, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) unveiled a bipartisan bill to allow the attorney general to prevent people on the government’s no-fly list from buying a gun. The Senate could vote on Collins’s measure in the coming days, but it’s unclear if it has enough votes to pass.
The House is slated to adjourn on Friday for a weeklong recess coinciding with the Independence Day holiday and won’t return until July 5. Lawmakers will then depart 10 days later for the party conventions that are taking place the last two weeks of July.
After that, neither the House nor Senate will be in session until Sept. 6.