Rep. George Santos (R-NY) moved on Thursday to force a House vote to expel Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) for pulling a fire alarm in a congressional office building as Santos himself faces an expulsion vote this week.
Santos filed his resolution as “privileged,” compelling the chamber to act within two legislative days, though Santos may already be removed from the House by that deadline and there does not appear to be a sufficient number of members willing to remove Bowman from office.
During his remarks on the House floor, Santos placed emphasis on the fact that Bowman took a plea deal on a misdemeanor count of falsely pulling a fire alarm that resulted in a temporary evacuation of the Cannon House Office Building in late September ahead of a government spending vote.
By contrast, Santos has not been convicted of any crimes, but he does face 23 federal charges — including aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, and conspiracy — to which the congressman has pleaded not guilty. In a press conference earlier in the day, Santos warned that removing members from office on “mere allegations” will “haunt” many other elected officials.
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) says he’s going to introduce a privileged resolution today to expel Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) for pulling a Capitol fire alarm.
“That’s consistency. Let’s hold our own accountable, but let’s make sure we do it with the precedent of the House.” pic.twitter.com/asmUitLoWf
— The Recount (@therecount) November 30, 2023
This week, Democrats and Republicans brought forward “privileged” resolutions to expel Santos after the release of a House Ethics Committee report that laid out “substantial evidence” of multiple types of violations of House rules and criminal laws. The GOP-led House is expected to vote on expelling Santos as early as Friday after debate on Thursday.
While Santos criticized the ethics inquiry as a political “smear,” the congressman announced after the report’s release that he would not seek re-election. In remarks on Tuesday, Santos declared that he would not resign and said a vote to expel him “sets a very dangerous precedent” when it comes to due process.
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Expulsion from the House requires a two-thirds majority vote to succeed. It has only happened a handful of times throughout U.S. history. Two expelled members were convicted of crimes, while three others were kicked out in 1861 for backing the Confederacy.
Bumping Santos from the House would mean Republicans, who have a narrow majority in the chamber, would need to brace for the possibility of a Democrat winning a special election to replace Santos in his Long Island district.
Unlike with Santos, the House Ethics Committee declined to open an investigation into Bowman. Bowman released a statement on Thursday saying, “No one in Congress, or anywhere in America, takes soon-to-be former Congressman George Santos seriously. This is just another meaningless stunt in his long history of cons, antics, and outright fraud.”