After firestorm, Rep. Mark Walker has "stepped down" from search committee to select new House chaplain

WASHINGTON — Rep. Mark Walker, a North Carolina Republican, has stepped down from a special committee tapped to select a new House chaplain.

The move comes after Walker, a leading House conservative, said he would like the next chaplain to have a family — comments that other lawmakers said were discriminatory because Catholics would be excluded from applying.

“Walker has stepped down from the selection committee,” his spokesman, Jack Minor, said in an email to USA Today.

Asked if House Speaker Paul Ryan pressured Walker, Minor responded. “No, Walker has chosen to remove himself from the process.”

Ryan created a firestorm when he fired the current House chaplain, Rev. Pat Conroy, the second Catholic to hold the post. Many Democrats said they were blinded sided by Ryan’s decision and suggested the speaker ousted Conroy because of a prayer he offered on Nov. 6, as Republicans were preparing to vote on their tax cut proposal, that urged lawmakers to strive for economic equality in the bill.

“Apparently protecting the poor and talking about fairness is now a firing offense in the House of Representatives,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., told USA Today on Friday.

Walker further inflamed the situation last week when he suggested the next chaplain should be someone who has a family because so many lawmakers are dealing with frequent separations from their spouses and children.

Minor said Walker’s remarks were based “on initial feedback from his peers on preferences for a new House chaplain.”

"… He also said that the chaplain would be advantaged by having life experiences that allows them to relate to Members – frequent time away from home, families, public roles," Minor said. "In laying out these recommendations, Walker made clear that he was not excluding any faith or denomination and that these traits were not qualifications."

The Hill, a Washington newspaper, reported that Walker and two other Republicans, all Evangelical ministers, were leading the search for Conroy’s replacement.

But Ryan's spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, disputed that. She said Ryan had not yet announced his choices to lead the search. “But I can tell you Mr. Walker is not one,” she said.

Asked if Ryan had pressed Walker to remove himself from the post, she did not directly answer the question.

“He is not on the list,” Strong said.

More: Speaker Paul Ryan faces backlash over decision to oust Catholic House chaplain; inquiry sought