Raising A Question of the Privileges of the House

Floor Speech

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Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, I will say, listening to the sanctimoniousness of my colleague from New York is quite priceless, talking about politics. This is a gentleman who couldn't even condemn the New York City DSA in an op-ed and, in fact, was more upset that I introduced a resolution condemning them than the actions of those individuals within the New York City DSA that supported the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. That is precisely because of politics, because his district is one of the most progressive districts in America. He couldn't muster the courage to even condemn the New York City DSA, so save us your sanctimoniousness sitting over there with your smug look.

Mr. Speaker, nobody wants to be in a situation where they are expelling a Member of Congress. It is serious, and it comes with weight and gravity because that individual was elected by their constituents to serve and to represent their district. You don't expel a Member for being a jerk. You don't expel a Member for something they said. You expel a Member for their conduct.

The conduct of Mr. Santos has been embarrassing and unbecoming and unfit for public office. Lying about your background, lying about your life experiences, making up events that didn't occur in an effort to bamboozle voters into believing that you are the right person to represent them, is wrong, fundamentally wrong. It is why all of us called for Mr. Santos to resign when this information came to light.

The resolution that was brought about in May was referred to the Ethics Committee for two reasons. Number one, there was not two-thirds of the vote to expel; and, number two, you wanted to allow for a process to get more information that Members could hang their hat on in a vote. That process is ongoing. We all would have liked to have seen it resolved more expeditiously than it has been, but given the voluminous amount of lies, it has taken time.

What has changed since May is that you have a guilty plea by the treasurer who was involved in this scam who has laid out precisely what happened, and you have a superseding indictment, 13 additional felony charges, outlining precisely what happened.

Yes, Mr. Santos will get his day in court, but for the purposes of this body, we now have more than enough information from a court of law, with the guilty plea of his treasurer, to expel him from Congress.

When you can sit with a straight face and say that you attended an institution like Baruch College or that you were a volleyball superstar and recite this on a nationally syndicated radio show, when you can make up the fact that your mother was in the Twin Towers on September 11 with not even an ounce of shame or remorse, you are unfit to serve.

All of us, being from New York, remember that day precisely. I was in my fifth day of freshman year of high school. The number of my classmates whose parents were in the building, whose parents didn't come home, the number of first responders in each of our districts who still today are dying from 9/11-related illnesses, this is not something you joke about or you lie about. It is unfit.

We, as Members of this body, despite the political nonsense that just came out of my colleague's mouth from New York, we, as Members of this body, have tried to allow for a process to take place, allow for a process in which the Members of this body can be confident that Mr. Santos should be expelled from Congress.

That process has been allowed to play out, both in the Ethics Committee and here today. Based on the conviction and guilty plea of his treasurer and the admission of the fraud that was perpetrated upon donors, upon the NRCC, upon former Speaker McCarthy's chief of staff, that is more than sufficient evidence and information to expel Mr. Santos from Congress.

There is not enough time to go through the litany of lies that Mr. Santos has engaged in during his campaign and during his time in Congress, including just recently a claim that his 5-year-old niece was kidnapped by Chinese Communist Party spies.

All of us take seriously the oath that we took. All of us want to uphold the integrity of this institution. We are willing to take on a member of our party not for political gain, not because we think this is fun, but because it is right.

I would ask my colleague from New York, name me one time you ever stood up to your party. You couldn't even muster the courage to denounce the New York City DSA.

We will do what is right. We have brought this resolution forward, and I encourage all of my colleagues to vote in favor of Mr. Santos' expulsion.

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