Democrats who wanted to quickly remove Santos from the House received a setback when the House voted 221-204 to forward the motion to the Ethics Committee. Democrats would have required at least 77 Republicans to support his expulsion in order to pass the legislation with a two-thirds majority, which is unlikely to happen in the GOP-controlled chamber.
Instead, House Republicans introduced a motion that required only a simple majority to pass to submit the subject to the Ethics Committee. Republicans abstained from voting against the resolution, giving it the majority vote it required to move forward.
All five of the Democratic members of the Ethics Committee—Reps. Susan Wild (D-PA), Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Deborah Ross (D-NC), and Glenn Ivey (D-MD)—broke ranks with their party to vote present on the bill. Representatives Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) also cast present votes.
After Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) introduced a privileged resolution to expel the rookie congressman on Tuesday afternoon, a procedural vote was required to force lawmakers to act on the issue within the next two days. This is why the vote is taking place now. Garcia had previously proposed a similar proposal to oust Santos in January, but the Republican majority effectively blocked it.
The Justice Department’s criminal indictment of Santos this week prompted Garcia to resurrect those attempts, compelling Republicans to either carry out their threats to censure the freshman congressman for his alleged misbehaviour or maintain their narrow majority.
Garcia declared on Wednesday that the New York delegate “clearly has no interest in the public good.” “We should at this point bring this issue before the Ethics Committee. There is already a resolution for this. All Republicans should now rise to their feet and join us in defending this body and removing George Santos.
The vote also comes following calls for Santos’ resignation over the previous few weeks from a number of New York Republicans, who were instrumental in helping their party win the majority in the House by flipping a number of seats during the midterm elections. Reps. Marc Molinaro, Anthony D’Esposito, Brandon Williams, Nick LaLota, and Mike Lawler are on that list.
Last Monday, Molinaro told the Washington Examiner that the individual was “delusional.” In December, I stated it. I stated that back in January. I’ll tell it one more. He shouldn’t represent us in Congress.
However, rather than immediately suspending Santos, all six of the vulnerable Republicans agreed to refer the matter to the Ethics Committee.
Several other House Republicans, including Reps. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Tony Gonzales (R-TX), and Max Miller (R-OH), have demanded Santos’ resignation during the past month. All three decided that the Ethics Committee should look into the situation.
In the upcoming weeks, Democrats may use the decision to postpone the vote on Santos’ expulsion as a political tool, particularly against Republican candidates who are running in strongholds that Joe Biden won in 2020.
Before the vote on Wednesday, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) stated that “the Republicans, especially the members of the Republican Party from New York, where I am from and where George Santos is from, have called for his expulsion.” “They now have the chance to act on their statements and cast a vote that is in line with them. However, it appears that they are avoiding the vote by other means.
Although McCarthy has made it apparent he would like the committee to speed up the process, the timing for an ethics inquiry is unclear. In addition, he declared that, based on the results of the committee probe, he wouldn’t wait for the outcome of legal processes before taking congressional action.
McCarthy stated, “He’s been indicted, but he still has the process. “I do not wish to wait for the courts to take action. What I would want to see is action from the House and a procedure in place.
The DOJ indicted the New York Republican on 13 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, public funds theft, and lying to Congress last week, prompting the DOJ’s decision to remove Santos. Santos has entered a not guilty plea and criticized the accusations as being politically driven.
Santos said in a statement that “justice is blind in our country, and everyone is innocent until proven guilty.” Rep. Garcia and the Democrats are, regrettably, acting as [biased] judge and jury. By expelling me, 700k individuals would lose their voice in addition to the 145k+ voters who put me here to represent them.
