Photo by Heather Goss

Just like that, it’s over.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has announced that he will not allow the D.C. House Voting Rights Act to come to a vote this year after all. The decision comes after several heated days of posturing among city officials, with some lining up in favor of Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s decision to push forward despite a controversial amendment that would have stripped the District of its existing gun laws, while others spoke out about the gun language being too high a price.

Hoyer’s decision isn’t too surprising given his long-held desire to find some semblance of consensus among local leaders on the gun problem before pressing forward. Ever since Norton decided she could live with the gun amendment, members of the D.C. Council have been busy releasing statements condemning the decision. Even At-large member Kwame Brown, who at one point appeared to have switched to the pro-passage at any cost camp, was forced to back down on Monday evening and clarify his position as aligned with the rest of his colleagues. “I’m against passing voting rights if it means abrogating our ability to protect the citizens of the District of Columbia through constitutional gun laws,” Brown said in a statement.

In his news conference today, Hoyer said he was “profoundly disappointed” that the bill will not see a vote this year after all, calling D.C.’s second-class status “a blight” on American democracy, according to Politico.