WASHINGTON — Congress may have adjourned for a five-week recess, but the House floor has not remained silent.

All last week, House Republicans held court over an empty chamber, despite the dimmed lights and lack of C-SPAN coverage, sounding off against Congress’ adjournment without passing legislation to address high gasoline prices.

Reps. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., and Nathan Deal, R-Ga., say they may join their colleagues later this month in their first-of-its kind protest.

“I voted against adjourning for recess and will continue fighting for a responsible energy policy that brings down gas prices,” Rep. Wamp said in a statement. “I am proud of my colleagues and our collective determination. I continue to communicate with them and hope to join them in the days ahead.”

A spokesman for Rep. Deal said the congressman tentatively is scheduled to join the protest in Washington on Monday.

Republicans have vowed to keep up their floor speeches until the start of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 25, and they claim their protest has helped lower oil prices, saying the market is responding to it.

Democrats have responded by criticizing Republican energy proposals, which include increased oil drilling, as outdated and out of touch.

In a letter to House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Republicans have been obstructing Democratic bills aimed at lowering gas prices through releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, investing in alternative fuels and conservation and cracking down on oil speculators.

“While a very small band of your colleagues remain on the House floor to discuss gas prices, their constituents deserve to know why their representatives in Congress have failed to support serious, responsible proposals,” she wrote. “Using yesterday’s solutions to today’s problems will not allow us to achieve energy independence.”

Rep. Wamp, unlike many of his Republican colleagues, has voted in favor of many of the Democratic proposals, saying they contain measures to increase oil supply, which he supports.

House historians have said they do not recall any similar protests during a recess, the Chicago Tribune reported, though in 1995 Democrats staged a sit-in to protest a government shutdown due to a budget disagreement between then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former President Bill Clinton.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who holds the No. 3 leadership post in the Republican caucus, said he is supportive of a bipartisan energy package unveiled earlier this month by five Democrats and five Republicans, including Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.; Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.; and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

The $84 billion proposal calls for some increased offshore drilling while also providing tax credits for alternative fuels and significant investment in advanced biofuels and other technology. It is paid for by closing tax loopholes enjoyed by oil companies and levying royalties on new drilling leases.

“These are the right ideas: plug-in cars and trucks, conservation and producing more American energy,” Sen. Alexander said. “And this is the right way to get a result. The Senate should take up these bipartisan recommendations as soon as we reconvene in September, improve them and make them law.”