Written by Hannah Guanti
At this point, everyone who is even relatively aware of United States politics knows the name George Santos.
The representative for the New York 3rd congressional district has been consistently in the news since his entrance into the House earlier this year. He has been involved in numerous scandals and countless legal battles that never seem to end.
Now, Santos’ time has seemingly come to an end.On November 30th, the House of Representatives will vote whether or not to expel him. This expulsion vote has been expected by many other congressmen since his entrance into the House, despite this, the action being no small feat.
To be expelled from the House of Representatives, two-thirds of the house must vote in agreement. This is an extremely rare occurrence, and has only happened six times in the history of the U.S. legislature.
With polarization at an all time high and cooperation at a low, prior to this recent vote, it appeared to experts, Santos was unlikely to be expelled simply due to bureaucracy.
Oftentimes, if an elected official knows a vote like this is coming up, they resign. Santos, however, has resisted calls to resign since his election from both sides of the aisle. Since his indictment in May, Republicans and Democrats alike have mounted an effort to expel him from the house permanently.
Santos is currently facing nearly two dozen federal charges, including but not limited to tax crimes and money theft. Though he has survived two attempts at expulsion, he is not expected to remain in the house after this Thursday’s vote.
What is the most alarming about all of this is the normalization of today’s modern political system. Lawmaking, by definition, is not strictly about politics, it is also about ethics, integrity, and candor. Fewer and fewer politicians maintain their positions as morally correct and with a strong moral code. Instead the house and the senate have become polarized, encouraging the everyday person. When our lawmakers are unable to hear the other side, how are their citizens?
This is one of the ruling bodies of our nation, the House represents the wishes of the individual states. More and more, the public is calling for elected officials to be virtuous and representative of the public. Within the past few months there have been breakdowns in the legislative branch that are extremely alarming, the scandals surrounding Santos just scratch the surface of the problems in American politics.
The vote on Santos is expected to be reached on November 30 but no updates have been officially released at this time. The debate continues in the house.
