Support grows to expel Santos after ethics report
Embattled Republican says he won't run for reelection in 2024
Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for November 17, 2023:
A collegiate job offer for an Ohio Congressman.
Congress back home with a huge to-do list.
More GOP grumbling over Tuberville’s blockade.
VIVA DE LA SANTOS. Armed with the details of a new ethics report that showed Rep. George Santos (R-NY) using campaign donations like his personal piggy bank, more lawmakers from both parties announced Thursday that they were now ready to expel Santos from Congress. They will likely get that chance when Congress returns to work after Thanksgiving.
EXPULSION. "This report is fully damning. I will vote to expel him," said Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-NC), one lawmaker who had refused to take that step a few weeks ago. “It is clear that George Santos is unfit to serve,” said another, Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK), as the pressure mounted for a new expulsion vote.
RESIGN. Some Republicans still hope they don't have to take that historic step to expel Santos. "I encourage him to immediately resign," said Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE). "If he refuses, I will vote to remove him from Congress," said Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA).
EMPIRE STATE. New York Republicans again clamored for the ouster of Santos. "The bipartisan Ethics Committee confirmed what most New Yorkers knew months ago," said Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY). "George Santos is a total fraud who stole an election to get to Congress."
DEVOLDER. Santos was his familiar defiant self, attacking his critics via tweets. "If there was a single ounce of ETHICS in the “Ethics committee”, they would have not released this biased report," the New York Republican wrote. “I will remain steadfast in fighting for my rights.”
STAY TUNED. Last night, Santos called a news conference for 8 am on November 30 at the Capitol. That’s two days after the House returns from a Thanksgiving break - and could well be the day of an expulsion vote against Santos.
ETHICS. Even as Santos defended himself and talked about getting his day in court, the report from the House Ethics Committee overflowed with new details of financial wrongdoing - which will be grist for late night comedians and political attacks from Democrats.
RECEIPTS. Santos spent $1,400 for Botox at the 'Virtual Skin Spa.' There was a weekend in Atlantic City, an Airbnb in the Hamptons; Santos went shopping at Hermes and Sephora, and used money 'for smaller purchases at OnlyFans.'
MORE. The ethics report said Santos used campaign donations to pay down personal credit card bills and other debts. Six different times, Santos paid himself back for loans that he never made. Money went for $6,000 in purchases at Ferragamo stores, as Santos withdrew cash at a casino, and later to pay his rent.
FINDINGS. The Ethics Committee said investigators 'amassed overwhelming evidence' of misconduct by Santos, as the panel referred more allegations to the Justice Department - which has already lodged 23 felony charges against him.
RETIREMENT. Hoping to defuse the move for expulsion, Santos said Thursday that he would not run for reelection. “I will however NOT be seeking re-election for a second term in 2024 as my family deserves better than to be under the gun from the press all the time.”
CASUALTY LIST. Santos wasn't the only lawmaker announcing on Thursday that he would not run for reelection in 2024. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) has decided against a bid for a seventh term. In 2012, Kildee replaced his uncle, Dale Kildee - so the 119th Congress will evidently be the first without a Kildee since 1976.
PENGUINS. Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH) already has a job - but he's being offered the post of President at Youngstown State University. In a statement, Johnson said on Thursday that for now he's staying in Congress, but the Ohio Republican didn't reject the idea of leaving.
NUMBERS. As of now, 27 current House members won't be back after the 2024 elections, along with 7 Senators. I certainly expect more retirement announcements over the next six weeks.
CONGRESS. Lawmakers left all kinds of work unfinished as they left for a Thanksgiving break. Honestly, I don't know how much the Congress is going to be able to get done before the end of the year. Not only are the issues politically difficult, but the open divisions among Republicans create even more issues.
UNITY. Maybe the biggest problem for House Republicans right now is that no one is afraid of crossing GOP leaders. And I mean no one. The Freedom Caucus has done it all year. Eight Republicans booted out the Speaker and suffered no punishment. Moderates have pushed back as well. If no one feels like they have to stick together - that’s not a team.
GOVERNING. I’ve never seen anything like these past two weeks for House GOP leaders. Then again, I’ve never seen anything like the last five months for House Republicans. They can’t pass their own bills. They can’t really run the House, even though they have the majority. It is an extraordinary situation.
SUCCESS. Even the GOP bills that passed in the last month spurred grumbling. Conservatives didn't like the '2-step' CR. Others disliked the combo Israel aid-IRS cuts bill, worried it would get stuck in the Senate (it did). And moderates fought back against deep spending cuts.
TO DO LIST. When you game out what lawmakers need to do before Christmas, there are four basic items on the yellow sticky note for Congress:
Finalize a major defense policy bill (NDAA).
Israel-Ukraine-Taiwan-border security bill.
Pass government funding bills for 2024.
Various legislative cats and dogs.
SPEAKER. No one may need a Thanksgiving break more than Speaker Mike Johnson, who struggled again this week to keep House Republicans together on government funding bills. He’s only been on the job for three weeks - and he’s already taking GOP flak. More in my column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
TIME FLIES. The calendar says the first shutdown date of January 19 is nine weeks away. The February 2 shutdown date is eleven weeks away. Don't be fooled - that does not give Congress much time at all to figure out the details of 12 government funding bills.
FEBRUARY 2. I chuckled when I saw that shutdown date. So did lawmakers. "It's appropriate that the new CR, at least one of them, ends on Groundhog Day, because it's Groundhog Day in the House of Representatives," said Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI).
REGULAR ORDER. The holiday season is almost here, which means you will need a gift idea or two at some point. Why not give someone the gift of straight news, and buy a gift subscription to ‘Regular Order.’ What better way to help people figure out what’s really happening in the halls of Congress. If that doesn’t work, you can always just buy me a drink - and I certainly need one after the past two months.
TUBERVILLE. After the Senate voted late Wednesday night to approve a stopgap funding bill, most Senators went home to get in bed. But a group of GOP Senators stayed on the floor until about 3:45 am - pressing Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) to drop his blockade on senior military promotions. Nothing changed.
NUMBERS. "The backlog grows," grumbled Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), who has spearheaded the challenge to Tuberville's blockade, as Sullivan noted that soon the number of delayed promotions will grow to 450. "This is having a huge readiness challenge and a huge morale challenge," Sullivan added.
PALMETTO. GOP Senators again very publicly challenged Tuberville's claim that his delays on senior military promotions are having no negative impact on the Pentagon. "If you do not believe these holds are having an effect on the military," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), "I question your judgment."
HOOSIER. These are not just names. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) noted one promotion to Rear Admiral for Navy Captain Thomas J. Dickinson. "Captain Dickinson was a classmate of mine at the United States Naval Academy," Young said. But Dickinson's promotion stayed on hold.
WHAT'S NEXT. This will have to get resolved in December, because all nominations expire by the morning of January 3, 2024. Either Tuberville will have to back down, or the Senate will pass a procedural change so that all of these nominees can be approved with one roll call vote.
FARM BILL. One of my first news jobs on Capitol Hill involved covering agricultural issues, so this week's move by Congress to extend the Farm Bill for one year is a pretty major development for Farm Country. "We are grateful Congress passed a farm bill extension to avoid serious program disruptions," said Zippy Duvall, the head of the American Farm Bureau Federation.
CONCERN. But the last thing farmers want is one-year extensions to become the norm, instead of a five-year plan. "Family farmers and ranchers must have clarity about the status of farm programs to make informed planting and business decisions," said Rob Larew, head of the National Farmers Union.
SNAP. One of the big flashpoints in the Farm Bill debate is over nutrition programs and what we used to call 'food stamps' - as many Republicans have sought deep cuts in the SNAP program. That continues to be a red line for Democrats.
PELOSI. A California jury on Thursday convicted the man accused of attacking the husband of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. David DePape could face up to 50 years in prison for breaking into the Pelosi home, and then hitting Paul Pelosi with a hammer. DePape had said he wanted to find the Speaker - and 'break her kneecaps.'
CHRISTMAS TREE. The Capitol Christmas tree arrives this morning on the West Front of the Capitol, signaling the start of the holiday season. This year's tree is a 63-foot Norway spruce from the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. It was harvested near Elkins, about 200 miles due west of the nation's capital.
RAP SHEET. An Alabama man has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for assaulting multiple police officers on Jan. 6. Kaleb Dillard pleaded guilty back in July. He used a metal tool to smash out a window in the doors leading into the Rotunda of the Capitol, and threw a cop to the floor who was trying to stop rioters from entering.
HISTORY. My 'Muse of History' on Wednesday was tied to a deadly racial clash in Houston involving dozens of Black U.S. Army soldiers in 1917. After quick court martials, 19 of them were immediately executed. Readers pointed out there was actually news related to that event - this week - from the Pentagon.
DATELINE HOUSTON. "The U.S. Army is overturning the convictions of 110 Black soldiers — 19 of whom were executed — for a mutiny at a Houston military camp a century ago, an effort to atone for imposing harsh punishments linked to Jim Crow-era racism," the Associated Press reported.
MUSE OF HISTORY. November 17, 1818. On this date, President Monroe focused much of his State of the Union Address on the situation in Florida. Defending his decision to send troops under Andrew Jackson, Monroe said Spain had invited that action by its refusal to control the peninsula. "This country had, in fact, become the theater of every species of lawless adventure," said Monroe, who also derided the capture of Amelia Island - 'by a small band of adventurers' - who then used it to bring in slaves to the South.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House next has votes on November 28.
The Senate returns on November 27.
Check President Biden’s schedule.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.
Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
The details that emerged about DePape, the attacker in the Paul Pelosi assault were jarring. He was radicalized by something online called Gamergate. Which apparently served as a gateway drug to Pizzagate and QAnon nuttiness. I found this paragraph from the NYT especially illuminating: Mr. DePape said Gamergate awakened him to the “truth,” and from there he became a supporter of Mr. Trump and a skeptic of the mainstream media. And he came to believe in a vast conspiracy theory that liberal elites were promoting pedophilia and spreading lies about Mr. Trump.
From the “Muse of History” can I assume you are saying nothing has changed in Florida since 1818?