Lawmakers taking part, representative alan grayson, who represents orlando, appointed,nd representative barbara lee as well as a woman whose father died in the Virginia Tech massacre. But are flawed laws the way to regulate guns . We will also speak with vince warren, head of the center for Constitutional Rights. Then in a stork ceasefire is reached in colombia. The National Government and farc delegation informed the public we have successfully agree to a definitive and bilateral ceasefire and the laying down of arms. Amy we will go to bogota, colombia, to speak with the countrys former high commissioner for peace about what could be the end of a decades long conflict that killed over 200000 and displaced millions. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Today on capitol hill, democratic lawmakers are continuing an historic sitin on the floor of the house to demand a vote on gun control after the orlando massacre left 49 people dead. Democrats are pushing for votes to expand background checks for gun purchases and to curb the sale of weapons to people on Government Watch list. A proposal shortly opposed by the American Civil Liberties union and the center for Constitutional Rights among other groups. The sitin was initiated by congressman john lewis, a veteran of the civil rights movement. We will go to washington, d. C. , to speak with commerce members after headlines. Voters across britain are heading to the polls today in a historic referendum known as brexit to decide whether to leave or remain in the European Union. Polls are too close to call. Its the third nationwide referendum in british history. Todays vote comes exactly a week after british mp jo cox was murdered. She was a vocal advocate for britain to stay in the eu. During the attack, eyewitnesses said her alleged assassin, thomas mair, shouted britain first, a possible reference to the farright, antiimmigrant Political Party of the same name which is pushing for britain to leave the eu. Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke to democracy now earlier this week about why he supports staying in the European Union. I have been campaigning for a remain vote in the European Union because i think we have to work with likeminded people across europe who want to deal with tax havens and tax avoidance, and want to protect the environment encourage others to protect its environment. It also, one that is in solidarity with people, rather than seeing them all as enemies. Amy in news from the campaign trail, democratic president ial candidate Hillary Clinton has been endorsed by one of the leading figures of the Republican National security establishment brent scowcroft, the National Security adviser to george h. W. Bush. His endorsement of clinton is the latest indication of the chaos within the Republican Party over the presumptive nominee donald trump. Not all republican operatives, however, share the discomfort. On wednesday, donald rumsfeld, george w. Bushs First Defense secretary, told fox news he cant imagine not voting for donald trump. Colombian government officials and farc rebels are gathering in havana, cuba, today to announce an historic ceasefire nearly four years in the making. The breakthrough deal reportedly includes terms on an armistice, the handing over of weapons, and the security of insurgents who give up their arms. Both sides also apparently found Common Ground on issues of agrarian reform, the rebels participation in politics, combating drug trafficking, reparations to victims and transitional justice. Well have go to bogota, colombia, for more on the historic peace deal later in the broadcast. A new report shows demand for abortions has soared in latin american countries hit by the zika virus. The study in the new england journal of medicine shows demand for abortions has more than doubled in ecuador and brazil, and has nearly doubled in venezuela. In all three countries, abortion is illegal except in rare instances, such as when the life of the mother is at risk. The study tracked the number of requests for abortions through the group women on web, a nonprofit that provides Online Access to abortion medications. In one request, a woman from venezuela wrote we are going through a really serious situation for the economic and humanitarian crisis unleashed by zika. There are no treatments, contraceptives nor pills to abort. I want to terminate my pregnancy but i cannot. In news on honduras, questions are mounting about the legality of u. S. Military funding to honduras following allegations by a former honduran soldier that murdered environmentalist Berta Caceres appeared on a hit list distributed to u. S. Trained special forces before her assassination. First Sergeant Rodrigo Cruz told the guardian his 100 certain that Berta Caceres was killed by the army. State Department Press secretary john kirby responded to questions wednesday about the new reports. We have seen media reports alleging the existence of a honduran activist hit list, as you have described it. The Us Government has not previously heard any credible allegations of hit list of deaths or by the military and do not have any information which would substantiate this report. You have not heard of these kill lists . That is what i said. Informationve any that would substantiate this report. One human rights professor called this smoking gun evidence. What is credible evidence . We have not seen, in our view, credible evidence to back up these allegations. If we do, we will take it seriously. Is introducedson a bill to stop all u. S. Military funding to honduras. Meanwhile, in new york city, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Mexican Consulate and marched to times square to denounce sundays Deadly Police attack on protesting teachers in oaxaca, which left more than 9 people dead and more than 100 wounded. Protesters also demanded the United States stop funding the Mexican Police and security military. Miguel angel mendoza, a former mexican teacher from oaxaca who now lives in connecticut, compared it to the missing students missing in i think the Mexican Government is trying to kill the root so we wont have more seeds. It was still a minute all of the teachers, that there is no left to protest because the teacher is the social justice fighter. The one who does the fighting for the rights of the communities. Amy this comes as Reporters Without Borders is calling on a Mexican Government to investigate the murder of two reporters this week. On sunday, elidio ramos zarate was shot by armed gunmen in oaxaca, while on monday, freelance journalist Zamira Esther Bautista was also shot dead by armed gunmen in the Northeastern State of tamaulipas. At least eight journalists have been murdered in mexico this year. The senate has rejected legislation to expand the fbis secretive surveillance powers. The measures would have increased the fbis authority to use socalled National Security letters, which do not require a warrant, to collect digital data from companies such as google or verizon. The legislation was only two votes short of passing. In california, Santa Clara CountyDistrict Attorney jeff rosen has called for mandatory prison sentences for anyone convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious and intoxicated person following the International Outcry over the light sentence in the stanford rape case. Earlier this month, california judge aaron persky gave stanford swimmer Brock Allen Turner a sixmonth jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Judge persky said he was concerned a longer prison sentence would have a severe impact on turner. The proposed legislation would make penalties for turners offense a mandatory minimum of three years in state prison. In cortlandt, new york, activists known as the montrose 9 headed to court yesterday for blocking the construction yard of the Spectra Energy gas pipeline in november. Spectra energys aim pipeline would run only hundreds of feet from the aging Indian Point Nuclear power plant, sparking concerns that a pipeline break could cause a Catastrophic Nuclear disaster that would threaten new york city. In court on wednesday, activists pleaded the necessity defense, arguing their actions were necessary because of the threat of climate change. In Michigan Attorney general , Bill Schuette has sued the private Water Corporation veolia for fraud and negligence during the ongoing flint water contamination crisis. Veolia, one of the largest forprofit Water Companies in the world, was hired by flint in 2015 to address the water quality. At the time, the Company Released a report falsely claiming the water was safe to drink. The Michigan AttorneyGenerals Office also sued texasbased company lan, which was hired to prepare the citys water plant and treat the water. This is attorney general Bill Schuette announcing the lawsuit. Lan wereint, veolia and hired to do a job and failed miserably. They failed miserably in their job, basically, botched it. Did not stop the water in flint from being poisoned. They made it worse. That is what they did. Our criminal investigation is ongoing. Guaranteed,and as i more charges to come, so stay tuned. Amy flint lead poisoning began when an unelected emergency manager appointed by Governor Snyder switched the source of the citys Drinking Water to the corrosive flint river. Today, the water in flint is still poisoned. It is unsafe to drink. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We begin todays show on capitol hill where democratic lawmakers are continuing in historic sitin on the floor of the house , the first ever to demand the , Republican Leadership take action on gun control after the orlando massacre left 49 people dead. Democrats are pushing for votes to expand background checks for gun purchases and to curb the sale of weapons to people on Government Watch lists, a proposed strongly opposed by the American Civil Liberties union and other groups. This is the scene right now as we broadcast on the floor of the house, which is being live streamed from the phones of lawmakers since the Republican Leadership have shut off the official camera feed that feeds cspan. Cspan is broadcasting the video streams from the phones of Congress Members on the floor. This is Florida Congress member ted deutch speaking live. Colleaguesds, my that i have shared this experience with, i join you in fill thoset to help holes we cant do it but just to provide a little bit of comfort. A little bit of comfort to those families and those communities that ache. That is why we are doing this. That is why we are going to prevail. That is why im so proud to have been part of this with all of you. Thank you. [applause] well said. A live stream as we broadcast of this historic sitin that began yesterday morning i just about 11 30. The sitin initiated by georgia Congress Member john lewis, a veteran of the civil rights movement. , ifor months, even for years wondered what would bring this whatdy to take action . Would finally make congress do just whatght . What is the people of this country have been demand and and what is long overdue . We have lost hundreds of thousands of innocent people to gun violence. Children. E babies. Students and teachers. Mothers and fathers. Sisters and brothers. Daughters and sons. Friends and neighbors. And what has this body done . Mr. Speaker, nothing. Not one thing. We have turned a deaf ears ears tove turned deaf the blood of the innocent and the concern of our nation. We are blind to a crisis will stop mr. Speaker, where is the heart of this body . Where is our soul . Where is our moral leadership . Where is our courage . Who work on bipartisan solution are pushed aside. Those who pursue common sense improvement are beaten down. Reason is criticized. Obstruction is praised. Charleston,ora, orlando. What is the Tipping Point . We blind . Can we see . How many more mothers, how many more fathers need to shed tears of grief before we do something . We were elected to lead, mr. Speaker. We must be headlights and not taillights. We cannot continue to stick our ignore thee sand and reality of mass gun violence and our country. Deadly, Mass Shootings are becoming more and more frequent. Mr. Speaker, this is the fight. It is not an opinion. We must remove the blinders. The time for silence and patience is long gone. We are calling on the leadership of the house to bring commonsense gun control legislation to the house floor. Give us a vote will stop let us vote. We came your to do our job. We came here to work. The American People are demanding action. Do we have the courage . Do we have raw courage to make at least a down payment on any gun violence ending gun violence in america . We can no longer wait. We can no longer be patient. So today we come to the well of the house to dramatize the need for action. Not next month, not next year, but now today sometimes you to do something out of your area. Sometimes you have to make a way out of no way. We have been too quiet for too long. There comes a time when you have to say something, we have to make a little noise. Well, you have to move your feet. This is the time. Now is the time to get in the way. The time to act is now. We will be silent no more. Over. Me for silence is amy just after georgia congressman john lewis spoke, he and other lawmakers began the historic sitin. The Republican Leadership then formally ended the session. With that, cspan stopped broadcasting from the floor. There are signs reading at the bottom of the screen, cameras in chamber controlled by house and house cameras are not permitted to show sitin. The only way to watch was through video streamed by the lawmakers on periscope and facebook. Soon, cspan began airing these web streams live on the air. After midnight chaos ensued when , House Speaker paul ryan moved to end the sitin by having lawmakers vote on other bills. As ryan spoke, democratic lawmakers chanted as they had all day no bill, no break. , the chair appreciates that members will differ on matters of policy and will speak to express those differences. But the chair would hope that the business of the house could be conducted in a fashion that represent and respect positively on the dignity and the decorum of this institution to which we all along. Amy House Speaker paul ryan then announced there would be no more votes until after july 4. We go now to capitol hill where we a joined by two democratic lawmakers, barbara lee chair of , the congressional progressive caucus Peace Security task forceful to welcome to democracy now i saw you throughout yesterday standing there also the Congress Member sitting on the floor, redefining the term speaking from the floor of the house. Talk about what you have taken over the chamber, the democratic lawmakers, and what your plans are, what your demands are. Amy enough is enough post up first of all, these measures are very modest gun safety measures. Background checks, nofly, nobuy. Very simple. We cannot even get the republicans to acknowledge the American People 90 of the American People want these modest measures passed. We decided we had to make sure that republicans understood that we were not going to take it anymore. The murders, the terrible terrorist attacks all of the deaths are occurring, not just recently, but over and over again, amy. In my district, i think i must 90 people last year were killed. 91 people a day are killed here in america. It is time we passed these modest measures, but we also have to look at the assault weapons. It is a shame and disgrace will allow weapons of war on the streets of america. Today, theres a funeral in my district of a young lady 16 years old who was gunned down and three others were injured at a vigil after a funeral of two young men who drowned. This is crazy. It doesnt make any sense. Speaker ryan i say ought to be ashamed of himself for shutting out