The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over documents about a failed gun running scheme.

The vote was generally along party lines, with 255 House members voting in favor and 67 opposing it.

But most Democratic House members walked out of the chamber and left the Capitol building, refusing to participate in the vote. Many Republicans say they believe the White House is withholding important information.

Holder is the first sitting Cabinet member ever to he held in contempt of Congress. He calls the vote regrettable, misguided and politically motivated.

The contempt vote concerns a failed program known as “Fast and Furious,” in which federal agents allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico in the hope that they would lead them directly to arms traffickers.

But U.S. agents lost track of the weapons once they crossed the border and the scheme backfired when two of the guns were used in the murder of a U.S. border agent.