Pelosi on guns sit-in punishment: 'Bring it on'

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday invited Republicans to punish Democrats over their sit-in earlier this summer, telling them flatly: “Bring it on.”

In effort to force a vote on gun-control legislation in the wake of the Orlando, Florida, massacre at an LGBT nightclub that left 50 people dead, Democrats staged a sit-in, occupying the House floor for more than 24 consecutive hours over a two-day span in June.


While the sit-in generated wall-to-wall media coverage, it produced zero legislative progress, as Republicans refused to hold a vote on Democratic gun bills. What's more, House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) office and other leadership staff have been researching ways they can reprimand Democrats for their controversial sit-in.

Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters Thursday that the punishment is supposed to come next week.

“I thought it was gonna happen tomorrow, then they pushed it to next week,” she said. “I don’t think they should do it at all. But if they do, we would welcome that.”

The Democratic leader suggested that, based on her conversations, House Republicans will try to do two things: punish Democrats for their actions and try to change the rules to prevent such a tactic from occurring in the next Congress. But that would just be Republicans “feeding the beast,” according to Pelosi.

“The only Congress that can change the rules for the next Congress is the next Congress,” she said. “So I think they’re just, you know, feeding the beast with that kind of conversation. But if they want to come in and say that we’re gonna punish you for having a demonstration on gun-violence prevention led by the all-American icon John Lewis, bring it on.”

Pelosi quipped to POLITICO Playbook in an interview published Thursday morning that House Republicans’ effort “will backfire” — “pun intended,” she said.

“They are going to besmirch the House Democratic Caucus, led by John Lewis, for a public demonstration that has been universally acclaimed,” she added. “You can’t even imagine what we’ve heard through the break from Republicans and Democrats that something very special happened. If I were advising them, which I am not, I would advise them not to do that. It’s not a good thing for them, but if they want to do it, bring it on.”