Walker lends voice to GOP protest

House Republicans received another boost Thursday when former Rep. Robert Walker (R-Pa.) joined them in the chamber to protest Democrats’ adjournment without a vote on offshore drilling.

Walker, who served as Speaker Newt Gingrich’s (R-Ga.) chief deputy whip and was known as the master of House rules in his day, made his first speech on the floor since retiring in 1997.

{mosads}He arrived one day after Gingrich offered his support at a press conference but declined to speak on the floor since he was no longer a member of Congress.

In addition to the continued rounds of floor speeches, Republican leaders sent a letter to Democratic members asking them to join them in calling for the Congress to come back to Washington to deal with the energy crisis.

Only current members can be recognized to speak on the floor during regular order; guests such as leaders from abroad are given permission by the Speaker to address the lower chamber.

The fact Congress is not in session allowed Walker to bend the rules.

Walker led tourists and staff on a stroll down Memory Lane as he described a House where issues of the day were debated and resolved before the members left the floor.

“One of my frustrations with Republicans and the Democrats when they controlled this House is that we don’t have those kind of debates,” he said. “Too often what we do is rig bills before [they reach the floor] … and [they come to the floor] on closed rules where very few if any amendments are permitted … at the end the majority wants to have the bill exactly the way they wrote it.”

Walker, now the chairman of the lobbying firm Wexler and Walker, has acted as an informal adviser to the House GOP since the party moved to the minority in 2006. Walker and Gingrich consistently used House rules to derail Democrats during their time in office.

Asked during a press conference Thursday morning whether their Senate Republican colleagues would join them on the floor, Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said that many Senate colleagues were supportive but did not say whether they would join House lawmakers back in Washington.

The protest could continue right up until the start of the Democratic National Convention, according to a Wednesday night memo from the office of Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).