U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks to members of the news media outside of a Steering Committee meeting on the U.S. Capitol constructing in Washington, U.S., January 11, 2023.Â
Leah Millis | Reuters
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday said he wouldn’t urge embattled Republican Rep. George Santos to resign from Congress, hours after local GOP officials tore into the Latest York legislator and pushed him to step down.
“Look, the voters resolve,” McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters on Capitol Hill when asked whether he would welcome Santos’ resignation if it was offered, based on NBC News.
“That is what his decision is to make,” McCarthy said, adding, “The voters elected him to serve. If there may be a priority, he has to undergo the Ethics [Committee], let him move through that.”
McCarthy also signaled that Santos, who admitted to fabricating critical pieces of his resume during his run for office and is now facing multiple investigations, remains to be eligible to serve on House committees. He said that the congressman wouldn’t serve on any of essentially the most prestigious House panels.
Santos declared Wednesday that he “is not going to” resign from Congress as a growing bipartisan group pushes him to depart an office he was sworn into only on Saturday. The GOP lawmaker has apologized for embellishing pieces of his resume but has said he didn’t commit any crimes.
Santos’ turned defiant on social media Wednesday, as he swung back on the Latest York Republicans who had called on him to resign and lashed out at former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who had tweeted for him to “resign now.”
“Go on @CNN and cry about it,” Santos’ official account tweeted in response to Kinzinger, who recently joined that network as a political commentator.
Congressman George Santos (R-NY), who’s facing a scandal over his resume and claims he made on the campaign trail, sits alone contained in the crowded House Chamber during votes for the brand new Speaker of the House on the primary day of the 118th Congress on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 3, 2023.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
Top Republicans from Nassau County, where Santos’ congressional district is situated, called on him to resign Wednesday after what one official called a campaign run on “deceit, lies and fabrication.” They were later joined by Latest York State Republican Party Chair Nick Langworthy, who’s now also a freshman House Republican, who said “it’s clear” that Santos “can’t be an efficient representative.”
McCarthy needs Santos to preserve his paper-thin GOP majority within the House. Immediately, McCarthy can afford to lose 4 members of his caucus per vote and still pass bills without Democratic support.
If Santos were to resign or get expelled from Congress, it could trigger a special election to fill his seat in Latest York’s third District. An open race to succeed Santos would likely be competitive, raising the prospect that the GEO could lose a seat.
McCarthy’s slim margin was on public view last week. Hardline conservative holdouts demanded major concessions before dropping their opposition to electing him as speaker, which they did only after first blocking him in 14 separate votes.
McCarthy also appeared to bristle when asked Wednesday if he planned to discipline Santos.
“What are the costs against him? Is there a charge against him?” McCarthy asked. “You realize, in America today, you are innocent till proven guilty.”
“The voters are the ability, the voters made the choice and he has the suitable to serve here. If there’s something that rises to the occasion that he did something improper then we’ll cope with that at the moment,” McCarthy said.
The House speaker played down Santos’ fabrications on the campaign trail, telling reporters that “a number of people within the Senate and others” embellished their resumes while running for office.
The Structure provides McCarthy with several options to discipline Santos. One among them is a proper censure vote within the House.
In a censure scenario, Santos would should stand and hearken to the costs against him read out loud, but the ultimate vote would only require a straightforward majority.
Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar was censured in 2021 for sharing a cartoon of him appearing to kill Latest York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Much more severe than a censure can be a vote to expel Santos. This is able to require a two-thirds majority of members present.
House leaders have typically resisted this feature, nonetheless, since it could represent the chamber effectively defying the desire of voters.
Only five members of the House have ever been removed. The last one was former Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, who was expelled in 2002 after being convicted of racketeering and corruption.
