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144
31 Democrats vote to keep Santos in Congress [thehill.com] (thehill.com)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
44 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

A total of 31 Democrats joined 182 Republicans in voting to keep Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) in Congress, killing a Republican-led effort to oust the embattled lawmaker.

The lower chamber on Wednesday voted 179-213-19 on a resolution to expel Santos, marking the second unsuccessful attempt this year to eject the first-term lawmaker from the House. A two-thirds threshold is needed to expel a member of Congress.

A total of 31 Democrats and 182 Republicans voted against the resolution, while 24 Republicans and 155 Democrats voted to expel Santos.

The effort to oust Santos was spearheaded by a group of freshman New York Republicans — led by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito — who moved last week to force a vote to expel Santos in the wake of his mounting legal battles. D’Esposito called the legislation to the floor as a privileged resolution, a procedural gambit that forces leadership to set a vote within two legislative days.

Santos faces a total of 23 federal charges ahead of his trial, slated to begin in September 2024.

He pled not guilty last week to a set of 10 new criminal charges in a superseding indictment alleging he inflated his campaign finance reports and charged his donors’ credit cards without authorization.

In May, he was charged on 13 counts of misleading donors, fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits and lying on House financial disclosures.

Santos admitted earlier this year to embellishing parts of his background while campaigning, but he has reiterated he will not resign despite his legal troubles.

Here are the 31 Democratic House members who voted to keep Santos in Congress:

Rep. Collin Allred (Texas)

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (Mass.)

Rep. Ed Case (Hawaii)

Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (Mo.)

Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas)

Rep. Sharice Davids (Kan.)

Rep. Chris Deluzio (Penn.)

Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (Texas)

Rep. Jared Golden (Maine)

Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.)

Rep. Steven Horsford (Nev.)

Rep. Jeff Jackson (N.C.)

Rep. Hank Johnson (Ga.)

Rep. Rick Larsen (Wash.)

Rep. Susie Lee (Nev.)

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.)

Rep. Seth Magaziner (R.I.)

Rep. Morgan McGarvey (Ky.)

Rep. Rob Menendez (N.J.)

Rep. Gwen Moore (Wis.)

Rep. Marie Perez (Wash.)

Rep. Katie Porter (Calif.)

Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.)

Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (Md.)

Rep. Brad Schneider (Ill.)

Rep. Kim Schrier (Wash.)

Rep. Bobby Scott (Va.)

Rep. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.)

Rep. Mark Takano (Calif.)

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.)

Rep. Nikema Williams (Ga.)

Mychael Schnell contributed.

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[–] [email protected] 115 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

They're just waiting on a report from the Committee on Ethics (like they probably should). I know Santos' guilt seems obvious but that can't be the standard; Joe Biden's guilt on every crime ever conceived "seems obvious" to the MAGA insurrectionists in our government. The Committee on Ethics says we should hear from them within the next two weeks.

The ISC has contacted approximately 40 witnesses, reviewed more than 170,000 pages of documents, and authorized 37 subpoenas. The Committee’s nonpartisan staff and the ISC Members have put countless hours into this investigation, which has been a priority for the investigative team and involved a significant amount of the Committee’s resources.

The Committee will announce its next course of action in this matter on or before November 17, 2023.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's a fair point, but GOP members will never , not for a second, be bound by a standard like that just because some Democrats hold themselves to it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Doesn't matter they're wearing this stain and they can't shake him. Last time we did this yeah we got trump and now he's the weakest candidate in the general election in history almost.

No one else has been a convicted felon and running for pres.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s nice to see a sane explanation at the top of a post like this.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Yes, and it's also important to follow up with the fact that even if 100% of Democrats had voted to expel him. It still would have not been enough. 90% of Republicans voted not to expel him. And Republicans have the majority.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

That makes more sense. Thanks for pointing it out. I was wondering why Dems would want to keep a controversial republican in the house.

[–] mindbleach 1 points 1 year ago

Our "seems obvious" and their "seems obvious" are wildly fucking different.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

If Santos's guilt is only obvious to his political opposition then the vote would fail on its own with no help needed from Democrats (2/3rds threshold). Democrats aren't going to get kicked out of office because MAGAs are crazy.

Santos's complete lack of ethics isn't some big question that needs a thorough investigation to objectively consider. He just straight up lied about his life, with no real excuse or counter. This idea that only a special report could possibly confirm someone shouldn't be a representative is just standard congressional cowardice.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Someone please explain why the dems would want to keep him in Congress?

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago

Per NPR:

Congress has rarely resorted to the most extreme punishment at its disposal. The House has expelled only five members in its history — three during the Civil War and two after their convictions on public corruption charges. It would be groundbreaking for the House to kick out Santos before his case in federal court is resolved.

There's not really an established precedent for booting Congress members out before a conviction. So, while I agree he's a 10/10 shitbag, I think there's value of letting due process play out and then kick him to the curb.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The only hypothesis I think works is he is an electoral liability. Keeping him there provides ammunition during the election and means the GOP can't get a better candidate. The guy is a massive fucknuckle.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I think the Democrat strategy this cycle is pretty much this on even a larger scale. The right wing says they're timing trump's trials to interfere with the election, but the thing is I think they're right in the exact opposite way of what they expect.

Trump caught the US by surprise and now people are sick of him, so suddenly he and every other scumbag in his party are the best ammunition the dems could ask for. The dems want to keep them all around and actively give them more chances to be obnoxious in order to scare more voters toward voting blue while splitting the GOP's votes.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

"Do not interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Democrat Rep. Tlaib wasn't censured over remarks about Israel yesterday when 23 republicans surprisingly voted against the resolution. That's probably why dems, in turn, voted to not toss Santos.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Never interrupt your enemy after he elects a self destructing clown?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Same reason they spend money on ads for MAGA candidates.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago

He also survived the sinking of the Titanic and 9/11. So, not surprised.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If Jeff Jackson voted to keep him in, there must be a good reason. The guy is a straight shooter.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Seems they don't want to set a bad precedent. And honestly, I can't disagree. He's been indicted but not found guilty yet.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So is our country being run by blackmailers? Is this why we can’t clean up our government, they are all being blackmailed to do this shit, or the puppeteer will cut the strings and leak video of them doing something heinous? Cause wtf? Al Franken stepped down because of inappropriate behavior, but lying is perfectly acceptable?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Franken willingly resigned of his own accord. This fucker is too craven to do so.

I understand why they want to wait, then though I'd prefer him yeeted. He's been indicted, but not found guilty. I don't think the House ethics committee has released a final ruling either.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

A total of 31 Democrats joined 182 Republicans in voting to keep Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) in Congress, killing a Republican-led effort to oust the embattled lawmaker.

The lower chamber on Wednesday voted 179-213-19 on a resolution to expel Santos, marking the second unsuccessful attempt this year to eject the first-term lawmaker from the House.

The effort to oust Santos was spearheaded by a group of freshman New York Republicans — led by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito — who moved last week to force a vote to expel Santos in the wake of his mounting legal battles.

Santos faces a total of 23 federal charges ahead of his trial, slated to begin in September 2024.

In May, he was charged on 13 counts of misleading donors, fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits and lying on House financial disclosures.

Santos admitted earlier this year to embellishing parts of his background while campaigning, but he has reiterated he will not resign despite his legal troubles.

The original article contains 266 words, the summary contains 160 words. Saved 40%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] krayj 1 points 1 year ago

The vote was an attempt to expel without waiting for due process to run its course. There is an ethics investigation that will wrap up in under 2 weeks.

Many of the democrats who voted not to expel did so because they didn't want to see a new precedent set in congress where the body can expel a member without some form of due process. If all it takes is a vote to eject someone, then the party in power would be able to expell at will, and that would be bad for everyone.

Also, republicans were trying to get rid of him as a publicity stunt to look better for the Nov 2023 elections running across the country and wanted to be able to pull this stunt off to make themselves look better to help their regional elections.

The democrat holdouts are eager to expel just as soon as the ethics investigation is complete. Those holdout democrats are playing 4d chess and winning. They made the right call.

Rep. Jeff Jackson explains it nicely here:

https://youtu.be/QEvUmJ4gpWM?si=UbhtJhGhDrKvcRrJ

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Perhaps, as he hasnt been convicted, its an innocent until guilty thing. /shrug

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

This is a motion in response to his legal troubles not whether he is guilty of them or not.

I feel like we really need to have some sort of yearly national civics competency/refresher course. So many in the USA have disengaged with the process of governance.