Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) slammed congressional Democrats for executing a "political stunt" in their sit-in for gun control legislation during his weekly press conference Thursday.
Democrats "occupied" the House floor beginning Wednesday to push for votes on gun control legislation that had been defeated in the U.S. Senate. Ryan himself was shouted down by Democrats in a raucous scene in the middle of the night. Republicans were able to pass a spending bill before adjourning Congress until July 5 despite the chaos.
Ryan, speaking sharply, said no matter how bad things got in this country, there was a "basic structure" that ensures a functioning democracy.
"We can disagree on policy, but we do so within the bounds of order and respect for the system," he said. "Otherwise, it all falls apart. I'm not going to dwell on the decorum of the House here today other than to say we are not going to allow stunts like this to stop us from carrying out the people's business."
Ryan said he called it a stunt "because it is one." Democrats offered an amendment in the House Appropriations Committee on the gun legislation they wanted, and it had failed on a bipartisan basis, he pointed out.
"That's a fact they didn't want to talk about," he said.
Ryan said Democrats could have gotten a vote through regular order by getting 218 signatures on a petition.
"It is that simple," he said.
However, he said, Ryan said Democrats were staging protests and "trying to get on TV" and "sending out fundraising solicitations." Ryan read out one from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that directly fundraised off the Democratic sit-in.
He threw up his hands.
"If this is not a political stunt, then why are they trying to raise money off of this? Off of a tragedy?" Ryan said. "What they called for failed in a committee in the House. The reason I call this a stunt is because they know this isn't going anywhere."
The real issue, he stressed, was fighting radical Islamic terrorism.
"Defeating terrorism is our focus here in the House," he said. "We are not going to take away the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans, and we are not going to allow publicity stunts to stop us from doing our job."