Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said Friday that the House Democrats should face ethics charges over their sit-in for a vote on gun-control votes that paralyzed the chamber for 25 hours.
"You cannot allow things like this to happen without some consequences," DeLay told
The Texas Tribune. "I think what I'd do is file ethics charges against every member that did this."
DeLay, 69, represented Texas and served as majority leader from 2003 to 2005.
On Wednesday, Democrats began a sit-in on the House floor about 11:30 a.m. in trying to press for a vote on proposals that would expand background checks for gun buyers and block purchases by some suspected terrorists.
House Speaker Paul Ryan ripped the protest as a "publicity stunt" and adjourned the chamber early Thursday for its Memorial Day recess, effectively ending the demonstration.
Georgia Rep. John Lewis, a veteran of the civil-rights protests of the 1950s and 1960s, led the sit-in.
"I'm heartbroken," DeLay told the Tribune. "The destruction of dignity, decorum of the people's House.
"That House doesn't belong to those members," he added. "It belongs to the people of the United States — and for them to desecrate it like they just did is beyond me."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.