Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia introduced a resolution Tuesday to expel indicted Republican Rep. George Santos from Congress.
The resolution is privileged, meaning the Republican- controlled House must bring it up in the next two days. It would need a two-thirds majority vote to pass and remove Santos from Congress, which would require a significant bipartisan effort.
Speaking to reporters, Garcia, of California, said his goal in bringing up the resolution was to “put Republicans on the record” after Santos, of New York, was arrested last week. Santos, a freshman Republican, was charged May 9 with 13 counts, including wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making materially false statements to the House in federal court in New York. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and returned to Washington on May 10, the day he was arraigned.
Garcia said that he has the support of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and that he has been working with Democratic leadership on the resolution over the past few months.
He argued that there is support among Republicans to expel Santos based on conversations he has had with fellow freshman members. But he acknowledged that it’s unclear whether the resolution has enough support to pass.
“I have good relations with them. I think they’re, most of them, are not lying and defrauding people. … And so people, including on the Republican side of the aisle, are not interested in him being in Congress,” Garcia said.
Some Republicans, including several members of the New York delegation, have publicly called on Santos to resign following months of scandal, while Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, became the first GOP member to call for his expulsion on the morning of his arrest last week.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has not joined those calls, saying Santos deserves his day in court. But McCarthy did say last week that he will not support Santos’ re-election bid.
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Garcia and other House Democrats introduced a resolution to expel Santos earlier this year, but it was not privileged and was not brought up for a vote.
Garcia was joined in introducing the resolution on the House floor Tuesday by Reps. Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., and Becca Balint, D-Vt., who are both co-sponsoring the bill.
“The Republican party’s defense of this proven liar who’s been indicted on 13 criminal charges is [a] sign of the deteriorating health of our government,” Balint said in a statement.
The House has expelled only five members throughout its history, three of them for disloyalty to the Union during the Civil War by fighting for the Confederacy. The most recent member to be expelled was James Traficant, D-Ohio, in 2002; he was convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery, among other crimes.
