Democrats will attempt to expel Representative George Santos from the US House of Representatives this week with a resolution that’s unlikely to pass but will force Republicans to take a public stance on the scandal-plagued freshman.
(Bloomberg) — Democrats will attempt to expel Representative George Santos from the US House of Representatives this week with a resolution that’s unlikely to pass but will force Republicans to take a public stance on the scandal-plagued freshman.
A federal grand jury indicted the New York congressman last week on fraud and money-laundering charges stemming from what prosecutors said was an effort to deceive donors supporting his campaign.
Representative Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, brought the resolution up Tuesday under House rules that will require action within two days.
Expulsion of a member requires a two-thirds majority of the chamber, so the effort would need at least 77 Republican votes. As of Monday the expulsion resolution had 48 co-sponsors, all Democrats.
Recent expulsion resolutions have come only after a member has been convicted of a crime. But Garcia said there’s no need to wait.
Read more: Santos Joins the Select Club of the Indicted in Congress
“He’s already admitted to many of his lies, and now is an opportunity to hold him accountable, and the Republicans in the House are actually going to have to go on record,” he said outside the Capitol Tuesday.
Santos didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.
While most members of New York’s Republican delegation have called on Santos to resign, Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said a decision should wait until after a verdict in Santos’s criminal case.
Santos, who lied during his campaign about having worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, has been a reliable McCarthy ally in his short tenure in the House. Santos cast the final and deciding vote to pass a Republican bill addressing the debt ceiling in April, after four Republicans voted against it.
An expulsion would set up a special election in his Long Island district, which includes northeastern Queens and northern Nassau County. The parties would nominate candidates who would run in an election within three months of the vacancy.
Only five members have ever been successfully expelled from the House — three for supporting the confederacy in the Civil War, and two after being convicted of corruption.
The most recent was a 420-1 vote to expel Ohio Democrat Jim Traficant, who was convicted of bribery, racketeering and tax evasion in 2002. He tried to mount a comeback from prison, but lost to his former congressional aide, Tim Ryan.
–With assistance from Billy House and Erik Wasson.
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