By Jessica Wehrman For months, the chatter had been steady in Democratic caucus meetings: Congressman after congressman, commiserating over shooting deaths in their communities, their frustration over not being able to vote on bills restricting guns. Finally, after a shooter in Orlando killed 49 at an Orlando nightclub, Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, a civil rights icon who had been beaten nearly to death years earlier in a 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., invited about 15 Democrats, including Columbus-area Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Jefferson Twp., to his office. It was time, he told them, to do something. So on Wednesday, around 11 a.m., about 20 lawmakers, including Beatty, stood on the House floor, huddled off to left of the chair. "We have turned a deaf ear to the blood of the innocent and the concern of our nation," Lewis said. "Where is the heart of this body? Where is our soul? Where is our moral leadership? Where is our courage?" And then, he urged his colleagues to sit. Filling up the well of the House, they all complied. The House chaplain gave a prayer. The group stayed put. They didn't move when the Pledge of Allegiance was read, though they repeated it, loudly. The crowd grew. The House Press Gallery -- formerly empty -- slowly filled up. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, tried to gavel the House into session at noon. He was shouted down. "No bill, no break!" they chanted. He quickly put the House into recess again. House leadership ordered the chair vacated and the C-SPAN cameras turned off. No one could see them at home. But they stayed. The crowd on the floor surged to more than 40 Democrats. Reps. Marcia Fudge, D-Cleveland and Tim Ryan, D-Niles, joined the crowd. So did House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Then came the senators from other side of Capitol Hill, all Democrats. Among them: Chuck Schumer of New York, Al Franken of Minnesota, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Corey Booker of New Jersey. Sen. Barbara Boxer of California brought snacks. Specifically, they said, they wanted to vote on some of the same issues that the Senate had voted on earlier in the week -- expanded background checks, a bill that would forbid those suspected of terrorism from buying guns. Many complained about the moments of silence held after each mass shooting, how helpless it felt. Some sat in the chairs allotted for lawmakers. Others huddled on the ornate blue carpet, legs crossed.. Some snapped selfies. Others took photos, tweeting about what was going on on the floor. Most gave moving and impassioned speeches. An aide outside the chamber tried to give her boss advice on how to do Facebook Live from the floor of the House, apparently to no avail. Beatty read off the names of 41 people who died in Franklin County in 2016 to gun violence. They included 15-year-old Aboubakary Diawara, Eddie Lovely, Kaleb White, who was also 15, Mohammed Barry and Deontae Fisher, who was 7. Beatty, a Dayton native, represents Ohio's 3rd district in Congress and is the closest Democratic member of congress to the Dayton region. "I am prepared to stay here until hell freezes over," vowed Rep. Maxine Waters of California. "We're not here to take guns away from sportsmen," said Ryan, before launching into a lengthy criticism of Republicans. "We're here to take guns away from terrorists. This is a policy decision. We are legislators. We are here to legislate." Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Florida, Orlando's congressman, read off the list of the 49 killed in Orlando, rattling them off one by one, choking up at some points. "The time I took to read those names is the time it took to kill them," he said. "How many more mothers, how many more fathers need to shed tears before we do something?" asked Lewis. "We were elected to lead, Mr. Speaker. We must be headlights and not tail lights."

By Rep. Alan Grayson Republicans shut down the federal government two years ago over unfounded objections to the Affordable Care Act, a program that's provided health coverage to 16 million uninsured Americans. Later, right-wing members of Congress threatened another shutdown to protest President Obama's push to shield nearly 5 million immigrants from deportation. Now, these same tea party extremists are threatening yet another government stoppage if Congress doesn't relent on the latest of their unseemly demands -- to cut off health care services for poor women. This is no way to govern, and it's criminal to run a 21st century economy this way. Let's put an end to it. If Congress passes my Shut Down the Shutdowns Act, we can stop this mad ritual forever. My bill would automatically extend the existing appropriation levels for one fiscal year, when Congress fails to fund an agency before its money expires. The "default setting" would no longer be a government shutdown. It would simply be to maintain the existing budget. There would be no more shutdowns. We have to remove this hostage-taking ploy from our polity. If we don't, it's middle- and working-class families who will suffer. The last shutdown in 2013 disrupted the lives of countless Americans, and made financial markets tremble with uncertainty. It took $24 billion out of the economy, and $4 billion in tax refunds were delayed, according to the Office of Management and Budget. And 120,000 jobs were lost. We may be heading toward a similar calamity in the coming weeks. Even if we manage to dodge a shutdown this year, when will the next right-wing policy obsession turn into a federal government time-out? Do we have to put our economy at risk, year after year? Brandishing the "shutdown" gun at the close of every fiscal year is a depraved, "Wild West" way to run this country. America's founders certainly never intended for the government to be subjected to such annual closure threats. The Shut Down the Shutdowns Act would erase this threat. Let's shut down the shutdowns once and for all. U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson represents Florida's Ninth Congressional District, which includes Osceola County, as well as parts of Orange and Polk. He is a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

By Rep. Alan Grayson Some will claim that the recent budget deal indicates that the U.S. House of Representatives is not the dysfunctional circus that it's purported to be. But look at what it took just to get that deal done: The resignation of the Speaker of the House, arduous negotiations among numerous factions, White House intervention and last minute horse-trading. All of this, just to avoid shutting down the entire federal government and costing our economy billions of dollars. In my view, the fundamental problem is the so-called Hastert Rule. This concept, which has no legal basis, dictates that only bills supported by a "majority of the majority" are brought to a vote. More recently, the Hastert Rule has mutated into a precept that 218 Republicans must support a bill that comes to a vote, or there will be a vote to dethrone the Speaker. This has given dictatorial power to a minority of the majority, the Freedom Caucus. This is why we had a government shutdown two years ago. This is why we have been brought to the brink, over and over again, on appropriations bills, debt ceiling bills, the Hurricane Sandy relief bill, etc. In each case, disaster was avoided only when a must-pass bill was put to a vote with solid Democratic support and scant GOP support. And important bipartisan bills, such as comprehensive immigration reform, simply never come to a vote in the House. The Hastert Rule enables, in effect, a unilateral filibuster by the Speaker of the House. If he doesn't want us to vote on something, then we don't vote on it. The House just went for 13 years without a single exception to that. The Boehner regime can be summed up in these three words: "Let's do nothing." This is madness. It makes the greatest democracy in the history of the world look helpless and foolish. It has to stop. Before he was elevated to Speaker, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called for reform of the House Rules. Unfortunately, it appears that the only rule change that he contemplated was a self-serving change to prevent him from being expelled in the midst of his term. That would be a step in the wrong direction. There is a quick, easy and effective way to eliminate the Hastert Rule and bring democracy back to the House. Changing the discharge petition rule to require the signatures of only one-third of House members (145, instead of a majority of 218) would kill this rule once and for all. It would end the threats to shut down the entire government over the debt ceiling, the budget, the fiscal cliff or whatever self-inflicted precipice looms next. In the movie musical "1776," Stephen Hopkins says, "Well, in all my years, I ain't never heard, seen, nor smelled an issue that was so dangerous it couldn't be talked about." There is no issue that is so dangerous that it can't be voted on. On the contrary, the failure to vote on compelling issues is exactly what endangers us. Why are we spending time voting on renaming post offices, awarding medals, establishing commissions and ordering reports, when we could be voting on immigration reform, the minimum wage, gun safety, tax reform, infrastructure projects, etc.? It's time for the People's House to do the People's business.