Yesterday, Congressman Robert Garcia (D-California) used a procedural maneuver to advance a resolution he introduced in February to expel Congressman George Santos from the House of Representatives. The House has until tomorrow to act on the measure. While it seems like an obvious action to take, the measure is not expected to pass. It would require a supermajority of two-thirds of the members to pass and Speaker Keven McCarthy has already proposed an alternative path that would involve turning the issue over to the House Ethics Committee for action. He told reporters yesterday evening that he would like the Ethics Committee to “take rapid action” on the question. But the Democrats are relishing this opportunity to keep Santos in the headlines and point to him as an “example of GOP corruption.” (Associated Press)

House Democrats took steps Tuesday to force a vote on expelling New York Rep. George Santos from Congress, an effort that is expected to be defeated but puts Republicans in the uncomfortable position of taking a stand on an indicted colleague.

The freshman GOP congressman has been charged with embezzling money from his campaign, falsely receiving unemployment funds and lying to Congress about his finances. He has denied the charges and has pleaded not guilty.

Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., introduced a resolution in February to expel Santos, something the House has only done twice in recent decades and requires the approval of a two-thirds majority. He brought the measure Tuesday to the House floor under a process that gives lawmakers until Thursday to dispense with it.

The optics of the entire Santos issue are a real concern for the House GOP majority. McCarthy has said that he believes Santos deserves to have his day in court and that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. That’s a basic constitutional reality, of course. But we’re talking about George Santos. The mountain of evidence showing that he’s an unapologetic pathological liar is far too large to ignore.

Also, the criminal charges that have been brought against Santos aren’t really ambiguous in nature. If someone is charged with conspiracy of some sort or perhaps a physical assault that might be the result of self-defense, we would need to wait and see what a jury has to say. But when you’re charged with defrauding the system by collecting unemployment while you are actually employed, that’s a fairly black-and-white case. Either you were working and drawing an income or you weren’t. It’s very unlikely that prosecutors would bring the case unless they had the receipts to back it up.

The House Ethics Committee isn’t an actual court of law that can find Santos guilty in the technical sense, but it’s the closest thing that Congress has for such matters. Handing the problem off to them is probably the “fairest” path that McCarthy has available to him. But at the same time, Santos is a golden goose for the Democrats. By dragging this out, the Speaker makes it easy to accuse him of shielding Santos so he can protect his slim majority as the Republicans seek to advance their agenda with basically zero support from the Democrats on any major issue.

The continued presence of George Santos on the House floor is an embarrassment to the entire party. But the real fault for this situation lies with the voters who advanced him in the primary and the New York media that failed to properly vet him over the course of two election cycles. Hopefully, if any good can come from this sad episode in American politics, we’ll collectively do a better job in the future.