Posted on 08/02/2008 6:37:11 AM PDT by kellynla
At the stroke of 5 on Friday afternoon, House Republicans ended their half-day protest on the darkened chamber floor with a round of “God Bless America.”
That capped a wild day in the chamber, where Republicans, aides and tourists broke all manner of House rules to protest the Democrats’ decision to leave Washington for the five-week August recess without voting on a measure to open new land to domestic oil and gas exploration.
The uproar began shortly before noon, after members cast their votes along party lines on the question of whether or not to adjourn for the day.
A small band of Republicans, protesting the decision to adjourn without an oil vote, started to speak from the well—even though the lights weren’t on, the microphones were turned off and most of their colleagues were scrambling to catch flights out of town.
An empty floor is one thing when TV cameras are there, but C-Span’s cameras, which typically broadcast every word uttered on the floor of both chambers, were not allowed to broadcast the revolt since the chamber was officially closed for business.
So this small band of rank-and-file Republicans, led by Georgia Rep. Tom Price and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, shouted their criticisms of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the liberal Democrat who stuck around to watch the first few speakers, and a collection of tourists in the gallery.
Reporters were asked to clear the Speaker’s Lobby that adjoins the floor and after relocating to a press gallery directly above it, were notified they might soon be asked to leave so the gallery could be closed since the House was no longer in session.
Republican Congressmen, eager to keep the press present, headed up to the gallery one at a time,
(Excerpt) Read more at dyn.politico.com ...
Rep. Brian Bilbray, Calif. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, Fla. Rep. Rob Bishop, Utah Rep. Roy Blunt, Mo. Rep. John Boehner, Mich. Rep. John Boozman, Ariz. Rep. Kevin Brady, Texas Rep. Paul Broun, Ga. Rep. Henry Brown, S.C. Rep. Michael Burgess, Texas Rep. Tom Cole, Okla. Rep. John Campbell, Calif. Rep. Eric Cantor, Va. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, W.V. Rep. John Carter, Texas. Rep. Mike Conaway, Texas Rep. John Culberson, Texas Rep. Charlie Dent, Penn. Rep. Mary Fallin, Okla. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, Neb. Rep. Virginia Foxx, N.C. Rep. Louie Gohmert, Texas Rep. Wally Herger, Calif. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Mich. Rep. Duncan Hunter, Calif. Rep. Steve King, Iowa Rep. Dan Lungren, Calif. Rep. Don Manzullo, Ill. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Calif. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, Mich. Rep. Devin Nunes, Calif. Rep. Mike Pence, Ind. Rep. Chip Pickering, Miss. Rep. Todd Platts, Penn Rep. Ted Poe, Texas Rep. Jon Porter, Nev. Rep. Tom Price, Ga. Rep. Adam Putnam, Fla. Rep. Mike Rogers, Mich. Rep. Bill Sali, Idaho Rep. John Shadegg, Ariz. Rep. John Shimkus, Ill. Rep. Adrian Smith, Neb. Rep. Michael Turner, Ohio Rep. Tim Walberg, Mich Rep. Greg Walden, Ore. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, Ga. Rep. Joe Wilson, S.C.
According to the House Republican Conference website, the following Republican lawmakers participated in the energy marathon:
Rep. Brian Bilbray, Calif.
Rep. Gus Bilirakis, Fla.
Rep. Rob Bishop, Utah
Rep. Roy Blunt, Mo.
Rep. John Boehner, Mich.
Rep. John Boozman, Ariz.
Rep. Kevin Brady, Texas
Rep. Paul Broun, Ga.
Rep. Henry Brown, S.C.
Rep. Michael Burgess, Texas
Rep. Tom Cole, Okla.
Rep. John Campbell, Calif.
Rep. Eric Cantor, Va.
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, W.V.
Rep. John Carter, Texas.
Rep. Mike Conaway, Texas
Rep. John Culberson, Texas
Rep. Charlie Dent, Penn.
Rep. Mary Fallin, Okla.
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, Neb.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, N.C.
Rep. Louie Gohmert, Texas
Rep. Wally Herger, Calif.
Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Mich.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, Calif.
Rep. Steve King, Iowa
Rep. Dan Lungren, Calif.
Rep. Don Manzullo, Ill.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Calif.
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, Mich.
Rep. Devin Nunes, Calif.
Rep. Mike Pence, Ind.
Let’s hope they are back on Monday.
On our Live Thread, there were a fair amount of us willing to send Pizza in there!
Duncan Hunter will be missed.
They can use candles and a megaphone and somebody can record it for youtube.
My congress critter is a Rat.
I think this is politico spin.
I listened to the Hanity and HEARD THE OUTRAGE as Pelosi pulled teh sleazy stunt of adjourning.
I expected an asian parlament fist fight based on the audio.
Well,
IT WORKED.
And it’s true.
NO new energy sources for this Congres. At all. Are we supposed to fill our gas tanks with air?
There is a Rep. Ted Poe from Texas. I think he still represents his Texas district which he has done very well. Pennsylvania could certainly use someone like him.
Exactly!!
At the presser ending the event, one of the congressmen stated that it was “New Technology” that made this possible. In otherwords, his Twitter account made it possible to update the public when cameras and media were not allowed in.
I went to write to Candace Miller, my rep from MI-10. I found she had a Facebook. Makes me wonder how many of these people are on Twitter or MySpace or Facebook and can we FReep them there?
Here is a link to her Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Candice-Miller/7863802062
Note up in the corner is a prompt to browse more polititians. It sure is easy to pop a message off to your rep (D or R) and ask them to do something or thank them for what they did.
For those not on MySpace or Facebook, ANY time you put something on someone’s page, not only does it update, but it also pops them an Email stating the page was updated and what that update was.
It’s hard to ignore.
the dims don’t want us to HAVE gas tanks, or anything to fill them.
After looking again I see that I read the listing of names incorrectly. The list does show Ted Poe as being from Texas.
Here is why I think this worked.
1. The OLD media has been forced to cover this because we BYPASSED THE DINOSAURS. CNN is still trying to ignore it.
2. Pelosi said she was going to clear the House at 4:30 and she did not. She lost.
3. We now have firm claim as a party on the SOLUTION to high gass. It is a simple argument. People understand, MORE OIL MEANS LOW PRICES.
Nobody gives a rats ass about the whales when your family is starving. IOW voters will kill a whale to feed the family.
“Duncan Hunter will be missed.”
What does that mean?
I hope there was a good reason they were not there.
You forgot Tim Walberg- Mi.
Any stories about this in the MSM?
30 Years too late.
Please Mr. Obama, Ms. Pelossi...what do I do now? In my situation I cannot drive an electric bubble car...
Hunter’s a fighter. Yes, he will be greatly missed! Unfortunately, he is retiring after this year.
Good news is - his son, Duncan Jr., is running for his seat in Congress.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.