WATCH: Democrats refuse moment of silence request for Rush Limbaugh

Limbaugh succumbed to lung cancer on Feb 17 at age 70.

"My request is to allow a 30-second moment of silence for the passing of Rush Limbaugh, one of the greatest radio hosts ever, and make that as a formal request," said Congressman Ralph Norman (R-SC).

"The chair cannot entertain the gentleman's request, but the chair can recognize the gentleman's debate time," he was told.

Norman's request came during a debate on the proposed Equality Act, which seeks to encode the social constructionist view of gender identity into American civil rights law.

Democrats have supported the passage of the bill, arguing that it is needed to protect LGBT Americans from discrimination in areas such as housing and employment. Opponents of the bill have charged that it would sideline the biological differences between the sexes and encode the social constructionist self-determined view of gender into law, with many critics pointing to transgender women participating in women's sports as an example.