Democrat starts official clock for Santos expulsion vote

Nov 28, 2023

Fierce Democratic critics of Rep. George Santos have officially triggered another push to expel him — the most serious threat against the indicted lawmaker to date.

The privileged motion, led by Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), means the House must act on expulsion within two legislative days. That’s almost exactly two weeks after the release of a damning bipartisan House Ethics Committee report that found “sufficient evidence” of Santos’ criminal wrongdoing.

“The time has finally come to remove George Santos from Congress. If we’re going to restore faith in government, we must start with restoring integrity in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Garcia said in a statement.

Although their effort is unlikely to succeed, with Republicans loath to remove one of their own on a Democratic resolution, it puts pressure on House Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.), to act on his own expulsion effort. Guest has already introduced his resolution, but not under the process that forces a quick vote, though he has told POLITICO that he plans to do so.

Santos, for his part, has denounced his critics and said he would face the expulsion vote rather than resign. Congress last expelled Ohio Democrat Rep. Jim Traficant in 2002 after his conviction on federal corruption charges.

Expulsion requires a two-thirds majority of the House, and a growing number of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who had previously voted against booting Santos have signaled they would now support doing so.

The measure is the second Democratic-led push to boot Santos from Congress after an earlier attempt was punted to the House Ethics panel in May. New York Republicans forced another vote in October, which garnered more Republican support but still failed.

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