Hoyer Discusses House Democrats’ Sit-In on the House Floor to Demand No Bill, No Break

 WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) and House Democrats are staging a sit-in today on the House Floor to demand Republicans bring legislation to address gun violence to a vote. Whip Hoyer discussed the sit-in with MSNBC and CBS this evening. Below are excerpts from the interviews and links to the videos:

MSNBC

 Click here to watch the video.

“Well, the Majority Leader and I had an opportunity to talk earlier today and the Majority Leader asked me what would it take for us to stop the demonstration on the Floor, which is essentially what [Sen.] Chris Murphy did on the Senate floor. They call it a filibuster there, we have a sit-in here, essentially, or teach-in or speak-in.The fact of the matter is what I told him was what we have been saying on the Floor: the two bills that we are asking to be brought to the Floor for a vote by the Members, who represent all of America, are supported by 85% to 90% of Americans. One is if you are on the no fly list, you should also be on the no gun list: ‘no fly, no buy.’ In addition to that, the overwhelming majority of Americans, of all political stripes, support enhanced background checks so that we know who is buying weapons that can be so dangerous to so many people so quickly."

“When Speaker Ryan became the Speaker, he talked about bottom up, this is, frankly, bottom up. Secondly, he talked about an open, transparent House that would confront the issues head-on no matter how difficult they are. If he believed that, then he has an opportunity to show that by bringing these bills to the Floor.”

CBS

Click here to watch the video.

“Well we are going to keep going, we think it is absolutely essential that we have a vote on two bills that will prevent the wrong people from getting guns. If you’re on the no fly list, you ought not to be able to get a gun. If you’ve committed a crime or you have other instances where you’ve indicated instability and that’s of record, you ought not to be able to get a gun. So we need enhanced oversight, background checks. Those two bills are supported by 80%-90% of the American people. And what this sit-in is about, is saying let the will of the American people be heard on the Floor of the people’s House, the House of Representatives. Bring these two bills to the Floor, Mr. Speaker. Speaker Ryan has said that this is going to be an open, transparent, fair process. He indicated when he became Speaker that we were going to take the tough issues head on no matter how difficult they were. Well, we don’t think this is a difficult issue. Some may think it’s a difficult issue, but it ought to be an issue that is resolved on the Floor of the House of Representatives. We are going to continue to demonstrate, sit-in, make our point until such time as the Speaker and Majority Leader allows the House to work its will on this issue…”

“No action is not an alternative.”

“We are prepared to go for a pretty long time. We think this issue warrants our commitment. [Rep.] John Lewis is, of course, our leader, and [Rep.] John Lewis as you know went a very long time, he spent time in jail, he was beaten, his life was put at risk for the rights of the people to vote. [Rep.] John Lewis is leading this effort because he believes in the rights of the people to vote, to be safe. To be safe from gun violence is also a critically important right and important enough for us to stay as long as we need to stay.”

“The fact of the matter is you have two very simple bills here that we are asking to be put forward, not complicated.”