Unyielding Republicans who control the chamber branded the move a publicity stunt and summarily adjourned the chamber at around 3:15 am. EDT until after the Fourth of July. By 6:30 am. Thursday — 19 hours after the protest commenced — some 16 Democrats remained including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, giving speeches that mixed victory declarations with vows to never back down in their drive to curb firearm violence.
“While the Americans don’t always expect us to win, they do expect us to fight,’’ said Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, as dawn broke and the few remaining lawmakers sat in a paper-cluttered chamber beneath empty visitor galleries. “We demonstrated to the American why we can’t get votes on common sense safety measures.’’
When Republicans streamed to the exits hours earlier, Democrats remained on the House floor, shouting “No bill no break!’’ and waving papers with the names of gun victims written in black. Rep. Maxine Waters of California said she was ready to stay “until Hell freezes over.’’