The U.S. House of Representatives will likely vote Thursday on whether to expel New York Republican Rep. George Santos from Congress after an internal ethics report found he “sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit,” among other things.
The complex web of alleged unlawful activity, which includes blatantly stealing from his campaign to fund personal Hermes, OnlyFans, and Botox purchases, has been seen by some as a rock bottom for Republican lawmakers. However, I argue this case is simply a side effect of a culture of impropriety becoming more flagrant on Capitol Hill.
Following the ethics report’s release, Santos announced he would not seek re-election and predicted his peers in the House would vote to expel him. If they do, he will be only the sixth U.S. representative to be expelled from Congress. Of the five who were previously expelled, three were expelled due to their support for the Confederate rebellion, while the other two were expelled after being convicted of bribery.
However, if the COVID-19 pandemic and the years following have taught us anything, it is that we are living in historically significant times. Today, the average person in their 30s has seen the first-ever successful ousting of a House speaker, three of the country’s four presidential impeachments, two of the country’s four popular vote-Electoral College splits, the first-ever presidential indictments, and a failed insurrection attempt.
On Nov. 14, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin threatened to physically fight International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien during a Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on unions. The same week, an NPR reporter alleged to have witnessed California Republican Rep. and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy shoving Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett after Burchett voted to oust him from the speakership.
Later that month, Republican lawmakers shouted at an ABC reporter who asked the House’s new speaker, Mike Johnson, a Republican representing Louisiana, about his involvement in attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. North Carolina Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx was among the lawmakers who booed the reporter, telling her to “shut up.”
The Santos case is unique in that it involves blatant corruption, whereas the other incidents relate to decorum. Yet all of these examples point to a general disregard for the rules. Congressional Democrats, by not confronting this trend as a serious problem, are enabling it.
While historic, the Santos case is just one blip in a growing culture of impropriety on Capitol Hill. Until this culture is addressed, there will be more cases like it.
Rachel Barber is The Item’s news editor. Her column appears every other Thursday.
