Rep. George Santos survived a second attempt to oust him from Congress.
The Republican-led effort to expel Santos from the chamber was voted down late Wednesday in a 213 to 179 vote, largely down party lines. The vote came a week after some of Santos’ GOP colleagues from New York introduced a resolution to boot the embattled Long Island Republican from the chamber.
The latest effort comes as Santos is facing 23 campaign-related fraud charges, including conspiracy, money laundering, wire fraud, credit card fraud, identity theft, stealing public benefits and filing false statements with Congress and the Federal Election Commission, and as news that a bipartisan House Ethics subcommittee formed to investigate Santos said in a statement Tuesday that they expect to announce the next steps of their inquiry on or before Nov. 17.
Two dozen Republicans crossed party lines to vote in favor of expelling Santos from the chamber. Meanwhile, 31 Democrats sided with Republicans in voting down the measure, which needed a two-thirds vote to pass. An additional 19 members voted that they were present.
The freshman lawmaker responded to the vote on social media Wednesday.
Members debated the resolution on Wednesday afternoon led by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, who introduced the measure to boot Santos from the House last week alongside several of his Republican colleagues from New York that represent districts President Joe Biden won in 2020.
D’Esposito said Santos is “a stain on this institution and not fit to serve his constituents in the House of Representatives.”
D’Esposito was joined by fellow Long Island Republican Rep. Nick LaLota, a co-sponsor of the expulsion resolution, who said the constituents of the third congressional district deserved someone who could actually accomplish something, unlike Santos.
“That is because their representative is incapable of getting a bill passed, a project funded or even sitting on a committee because he lacks the minimum amount of trust…
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