--- title: House Republicans Cut C-SPAN Feed During Gun Control Sit-In description: Democrats staged a sit-in to protest lack of action on gun control and Republicans declared the House in recess, cutting the camera feed. canonical: https://time.com/4378912/congress-house-cspan-feed-cut/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-22T20:13:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:47:03.436Z article:section: Politics og:title: House Republicans Cut C-SPAN Feed During Gun Control Sit-In og:description: Democrats did the same thing in 2008 og:url: https://time.com/4378912/congress-house-cspan-feed-cut/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ec4c6f88c391b30/698898fa0b72e306096e9e78/house-of-representatives.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A photo tweeted from the floor of the U.S. House by Rep. Edwards shows Democratic House members staging a sit-in over gun legislation in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: House Republicans Cut C-SPAN Feed During Gun Control Sit-In twitter:description: Democrats did the same thing in 2008 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ec4c6f88c391b30/698898fa0b72e306096e9e78/house-of-representatives.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # House Republicans Cut C-SPAN Cameras During Gun Control Sit-In by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jun 22, 2016 8:13 PM UTC  Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Donna Edwards and John Lewis, staging a sit-in on Capitol Hill, on June 22, 2016. Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Donna Edwards and John Lewis, staging a sit-in on Capitol Hill, on June 22, 2016.U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards—Reuters by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jun 22, 2016 8:13 PM UTC Republicans had an ace up their sleeves Wednesday for a group of [Democrats who staged a sit-in on the House floor](http://time.com/4378376/gun-control-house-sit-in-congress-orlando-shooting/)—cut the broadcast feed. Shortly after the Democrats took the floor in protest of lack of action on gun legislation in the wake of the Orlando shootings, C-SPAN cameras went dark, as the broadcasts are not controlled by the television network, but rather the House itself. When a call for order from Texas Rep. Ted Poe, who was presiding over the chamber, was not answered, the House was called into recess and the cameras were turned off. C-SPAN linked out to a live broadcast from Ohio Rep. Scott Peters via Periscope. The video streaming app also [created a channel](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/06/22/heres-why-you-cant-watch-house-democrats-sit--c-span/86249466/) for tracking broadcasts from the floor, according to USA Today, titled #NoBillNoBreak. > [](https://twitter.com/cspan/status/745691027701260290) This isn’t the first time lawmakers have cut the feed on the House floor, and the tactic has a bipartisan history. Republicans attempted to force then-speaker Nancy Pelosi to schedule a vote on oil drilling in July 2008, which she refused. The House adjourned but Republicans kept coming to floor for days in protest, but there were no TV cameras or microphones to record them. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4378912/congress-house-cspan-feed-cut/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4378912/congress-house-cspan-feed-cut/"},"headline":"House Republicans Cut C-SPAN Cameras During Gun Control Sit-In","datePublished":"2016-06-22T20:13:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:47:03.436Z","description":"Democrats did the same thing in 2008","url":"https://time.com/4378912/congress-house-cspan-feed-cut/","keywords":["Congress","Gun Control","House of Representatives","Orlando Shooting"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ec4c6f88c391b30/698898fa0b72e306096e9e78/house-of-representatives.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ec4c6f88c391b30/698898fa0b72e306096e9e78/house-of-representatives.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A photo tweeted from the floor of the U.S. House by Rep. Edwards shows Democratic House members staging a sit-in over gun legislation in Washington","caption":"A photo tweeted from the floor of the U.S. House by Rep. Edwards shows Democratic House members staging a sit-in over gun legislation in Washington","creditText":"U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4378912/congress-house-cspan-feed-cut/","name":"House Republicans Cut C-SPAN Cameras During Gun Control Sit-In"}}]}] ```