House Republicans on Wednesday dodged Democrats’ power play to force a vote on expelling disgraced Rep. George Santos from Congress, sending the resolution instead to the ethics committee.
The GOP motion to jettison the resolution to the House Ethics Committee passed in a party-line 220-204 vote.
The privileged resolution for expulsion was introduced Tuesday by Rep. Robert Garcia, California Democrat, forcing GOP leaders to bring the measure to the floor for a vote. The motion to send it to the ethics panel succeeded in avoiding the vote, which would have put Republicans on the spot to support Mr. Santos to protect their thin majority in the chamber.
The committee is already investigating Mr. Santos, a Republican who was revealed to have lied about most of his life story — including having Jewish heritage — to get elected in last year his district on New York’s Long Island.
Mr. Garcia called Mr. McCarthy’s move “a cop-out.”
“This is already in the ethics committee,” he said before the vote. “We want an actual vote on the expulsion.”
SEE ALSO: New York Democrats heckle Rep. George Santos on U.S. Capitol steps
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, said Tuesday that he wanted the ethics panel to deal with Mr. Santos’ situation as swiftly as possible instead of leaving it to members to expel Mr. Santos from Congress.
Mr. McCarthy has said he will not support Mr. Santos’ reelection.
Mr. Santos was charged in New York last week with 13 counts of fraud and money-laundering crimes related to campaign donations. He pleaded not guilty. He is expected in court again on June 30.
The embattled congressman called the charges against him a “witch hunt.” He has said will not resign from office, despite calls to do so from GOP lawmakers in the New York delegation.
Rep. Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat and a former federal prosecutor, said the ethics committee likely won’t act until the federal criminal case runs its course.
“Prosecutors are going to ask the Ethics Committee to pause and let their prosecution go first,” Mr. Goldman said. “That’s what I did for 10 years, that is the nature of how these things work. And traditionally, the ethics committee will defer to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution and Kevin McCarthy knows that.”
He accused Republicans of sidestepping their responsibility to go on record about where they stand on Mr. Santos.
“By supporting a cop-out redundant motion, they’re avoiding responsibility to make hard votes in Congress,” he said.
In March, the committee launched a probe to determine if Mr. Santos “engaged in unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign; failed to properly disclose required information on statements filed with the House; violated federal conflict of interest laws in connection with his role in a firm providing fiduciary services; and/or engaged in sexual misconduct towards an individual seeking employment in his congressional office.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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