Gay Rep. Robert Garcia to introduce privileged resolution to give George Santos the boot

With House Republican leadership unsure of when a vote will happen on Rep. Michael Guest’s (R-MS) resolution to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY), out gay Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) is forcing the issue today by introducing a privileged resolution to expel Santos.

The week before Thanksgiving, Guest, who is the chair of the House Ethics Committee, introduced a resolution to expel Santos. His resolution was introduced just as the House Ethics Committee’s report on Santos was released, which said that there is “substantial evidence that campaign funds were converted to personal use.” The House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to accept the report.

Related:

George Santos accuses lesbian lawmaker of being corrupt. It did not go as planned.

“Oh so since you’re about to be expelled from Congress, you’re suddenly the morality police?”

Over the weekend, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) talked with Santos about what his options were moving forward but didn’t say when the House would vote on the Guest resolution, saying what happens next is “not yet determined.”

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House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) said that Johnson hadn’t decided on how to handle the resolution, according to CNN’s Manu Raju.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer says Speaker Mike Johnson has not yet decided how he will handle measure to expel George Santos this week. Emmer says they will not whip the vote, per @haleytalbotcnn. A lot of undecided GOP members as they await word from leaders who have been mum

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 28, 2023

Garcia, who has spoken out against Santos many times in the past, apparently isn’t going to accept that timetable. Reporter Max Cohen tweeted that Garcia will introduce a privileged resolution to expel Santos when the House opens for business today at 2 p.m. Since it’ll be a privileged resolution, the House will have 48 hours to vote on it.

Journalist Jake Sherman quote-tweeted Cohen’s tweet and said that it would put “More pressure on santos” and suggested that someone might make the Guest resolution “privileged as well.” Garcia retweeted both of these tweets.

Garcia also retweeted a post from Axios reporter Andrew Solender saying that a resolution to expel Santos is “likely to be added to one of the vote series this week.”

A weekly rundown of this week's votes sent to House Democratic offices says a a resolution to expel George Santos is "likely to be added to one of the vote series this week."

Rep. Robert Garcia told @Axios he plans to force a vote: https://t.co/1xkSDDj6Uv pic.twitter.com/CWkXEYX42u

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) November 27, 2023

Garcia was on MSNBC over the weekend, and he was confident that there were enough votes to expel Santos.

“Besides all Democrats,” Garcia said, “we’ve seen an avalanche of Republicans, particularly the ones that had voted not to expel him say that they’re now going to expel him. I’ve also heard privately from other Republicans… George Santos himself has said even as early as last night that he thinks he’s going to be expelled. And he’s right.”

“I think we do.” @RobertGarcia believes the House has enough votes to expel Rep. George Santos when they return from Thanksgiving break. pic.twitter.com/REx7sgPyiR

— American Voices with Alicia Menendez (@AliciaOnMSNBC) November 26, 2023

“I know I’m going to get expelled when this expulsion resolution goes to the floor,” Santos said last Friday during a social media event. “I’ve done the math over and over, and it doesn’t look really good.”

Santos has already survived two attempts to expel him, the first time in May when several out LGBTQ+ Democrats – led by Garcia – introduced a resolution to expel him and the second time earlier this month after several New York Republicans filed a resolution to expel him.

Two-thirds of the House must vote to expel Santos, and Republicans have a narrow majority in the House. If he is expelled, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) can issue a proclamation for a special election to find someone to replace him for the remainder of the congressional session.