Dem Sit-In On House Floor Continues (UPDATED)

Democratic House members continued their sit-in on the House floor overnight, despite Rethuglican attempts to roll them by shutting off cameras in the House chamber and adjourning without voting on gun safety legislation.  Led by civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), the Dems angrily denounced the failure of the Rethugs to allow a vote on several measures, including expanded background checks and a "no fly, no buy" restriction on gun sales. Looking at the failure of the Senate last Monday to pass gun safety legislation, it's clear who commands the attention of the 56 Senators who voted the background check legislation down:  Think Progress reports that the gun lobby's National Rifle Rampage Association pumped $36 million into their campaign coffers. Some of the NRA's most egregious political prostitutes are John McCain (AZ), Pat Toomey (PA), Rob Portman (OH), and Roy Blunt (MO).

Given the redistricting that occurred after the 2010 census by Rethuglican-controlled state legislatures, Congressional districts have been redrawn in those states to favor Rethuglicans, meaning that it's going to be difficult, but not impossible, to vote many of them out of office.  Not so in the Senate, where 23 Rethug Senators are up for reelection, with several in states that voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, such as New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Dems only need four seats to flip the Senate. We're hoping the election cuts far deeper than that into that roster of 23 Rethugs.

UPDATE:  Charles Pierce says it:

But at the heart of these actions is more than a protest against inaction on the issue of guns. It's a protest against inaction, period, against the repulsive and cowardly vandalism-by-inaction that has been the hallmark of the Congress almost from the second the president's hand came off the Bible in 2009. Politicians should vote and then explain their reasons why to the people that elect them. The government should function. Period. That's an issue worth fighting over.  (our emphasis)

UPDATE II:  Republican priorities --

Note what's happening now: Paul Ryan pushing for a vote to water down rules for Wall Street advisers.

That is the bill on the floor now.

— Ari Melber MSNBC (@AriMelber) June 23, 2016