As Republicans prepare to ram their extreme conservative agenda through Congress they are making also considering how to prevent Democrats from standing in their way. House Republicans are trying to make it very costly for anyone to film on the House floor.

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On Monday, Republican leadership in the House proposed a rule that would punish any representatives who film, take photos, record or broadcast anything from the House floor. This was first reported by Bloomberg, saying first-time offenders would face a $500 fine and repeat offenders would see $2,500 which would be docked directly from their paychecks.

Why Republicans want to punish filming on the House floor

So that begs the obvious question, why do Republicans want to punish filming on the House floor? The proposed rule is a clear response from the Republican leadership to the protest that Democratic lawmakers staged in June after the deadliest shooting in U.S. history. Democrats staged a sit-in on the House floor in a last-ditch effort to compel Republican leadership to vote on gun control legislation.

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However, rather than responding to the nation’s deadliest shooting by joining the debate and allowing a vote, Republicans responded by putting the House into recess, which cut off C-SPAN cameras that were broadcasting the protest. Democrats responded to the cameras being turned off by live-streaming the event on Facebook and other social media platforms. And C-SPAN opted to broadcast the social media live stream.

Of course, Republicans are defending the proposal as a way to maintain order in the chamber and prevent disruption. But it is clear to anyone who is paying attention that what the Republicans are really doing is trying to limit the options Democrats have to stand in the way of Donald Trump and the Republicans as they ram their conservative agenda through congress. So now you know why Republicans want to punish filming on the House floor. 

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