House Democrats are giving Republicans an opportunity to stand up for law and order and reject their indicted colleague, Rep. George Santos. Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California introduced a resolution Tuesday to expel Santos from the House, explaining: “Republicans in the House now have an opportunity to either stand with the American public and their constituents or to stand with someone who has been indicted on 13 counts."
The resolution could be considered as early as Wednesday evening. However, with Speaker Kevin McCarthy in charge, the resolution is not going to be so much “considered” as swept under the rug and shuffled off to a committee. Democrats know that, but they also know they need to force this moment of accountability on Republicans. It’s about them owning their corrupt, lying, cheating, stealing colleague. It’s accountability and it’s good politics.
“Republicans need to do the right thing,” Garcia said, “and we need to expel George Santos.” He pointed out that all of Santos’ New York colleagues want him out and there’s already a motion to refer him to the ethics committee, apart from his resolution.
Instead, Republicans are going to sweep this way to keep Santos in his seat for as long as possible, because with their tiny majority they need his vote. They also know the seat would almost certainly flip to Democrats in a special election.
It takes a lot to expel a member of Congress: Two-thirds of the House has to agree. Garcia’s resolution is privileged, which means it has to be put on the floor within two legislative days once it’s introduced. But that doesn’t mean it actually gets a vote; it can be tabled or sent to committee with a simple majority vote. That’s exactly what McCarthy is going to do with this one: have a vote to send it to the House Ethics Committee despite McCarthy’s “concern” about the charges against Santos.
Republicans don’t actually want to hold Santos accountable, they just want him to go away without having to do anything about it themselves. His Republican colleagues in the New York delegation are telling him to resign. They don’t want to have to stand on the floor and take personal responsibility for him. They want “the committee” to deal with it.
Like freshman Rep. Mike Lawler, who said Wednesday: “The committee will move very expeditiously. He won’t be here for long. Whether he cuts a deal and resigns, or the committee makes a recommendation to expel him. What the Democrats are doing is bullshit. It’s just politics.” It sure isn’t bullshit, it’s accountability. But he’s right that it is politics. Good politics.
That’s what this resolution is about: making every single Republican own Santos and own the corruption when they refuse to act. Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett showed Democrats how to do it:
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