Republicans blocked Democrats’ privileged resolution demanding that Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa publicly apologize to the House of Representatives for cutting off Rep. Elijah E. Cummings last week at an IRS hearing.

The nearly party line vote shelving the resolution came after a theatrical display of protest on the House floor, with Democrats not about to give up on the issue.

“This was not just a violation of Mr. Issa’s treatment of Mr. Cummings,” said Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., a freshman lawmaker who introduced the resolution on Thursday. “My resolution was about Mr. Issa’s offense against the House.”

“If we don’t enforce the rules,” Kildee said, “where do we go?”

As Kildee and his Democratic colleagues offered the resolution, they defiantly held pictures of Issa making the throat-cutting motion, displaying the image on iPads, iPhones and paper. A floor procedure kerfuffle, in which a new House precedent may have been established, ensued.