Speaker Ryan: Democrats’ sit-in was a ‘fundraising stunt’ that diminished the institution

"Paul Ryan had harsh words for House Democrats Thursday morning, accusing them of holding a fundraising stunt that diminished the world’s oldest democracy.

At his Thursday press conference, Ryan held up printed copies of a fundraising solicitation. “House Democrats on the House floor. Your contribution will go to the DCCC,” Ryan pointed out. He continued by pointing to each fundraising box in turn, “Fifteen dollars, this one says try giving us 25 bucks, but if you want you can send us 50, a hundred, 250 dollars, 500 dollars, a thousand, because look at what we’re doing on the House floor. Send us money.”

“If this is not a political stunt then why are they trying to raise money off of this? Off of a tragedy. What they’ve 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. It already failed in the Senate.

“They may not like this fact but this bill couldn’t even get 50 votes in the United States Senate, let alone sixty. Why is that? Why is it that this bill failed on a bipartisan basis in committee and this bill failed on a bipartisan basis in the Senate? Because in this country we do not take away people’s constitutional right without due process. This is not just Republicans saying this. It’s groups like the ACLU who are saying this."

[Hot Air]