Raising A Question of the Privileges of the House

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LaLOTA. Mr. Speaker, I would like to address three issues in hopes of persuading my colleagues from both sides of the aisle who at this time are either against or undecided about expelling George Santos to ultimately vote ``yes.'' Those three issues are: fraud, due process, and election integrity.

Regarding fraud, Mr. Speaker, both Federal and State laws would require jail time or a monetary fine or both for any of our constituents who tricked another person into an agreement to another American's disadvantage.

Here, in the 2022 election, by his own admission, George Santos induced New York voters and donors throughout the Nation to support him by fraudulently creating an entire new person that donors and voters would support. Santos did this intentionally, figuring the uneducated, underemployed, and person of simple means he actually is could not earn the support of voters and donors.

The facts of George Santos' fraud are not in dispute. George Santos is not the person he offered to voters. He didn't work where he said he did. He didn't go to school where he said he did. He is far from rich. He is not Jewish. His mother was not in the South Tower during 9/11.

Therefore, the argument that New Yorkers voted George Santos in and that we should wait until November 2024 for voters to decide his fate is inherently flawed since voters weren't given a fair chance to determine who they were actually voting for, Mr. Speaker.

While our constituents would go to jail or be fined for similar lies, one question we have before us today is whether we are going to hold George Santos to the same standard to which our constituents are held or a lesser one.

Regarding due process, Mr. Speaker, we should clear up some things. It has been a while since I took Professor Sample's civil procedures class or Professor Ku's constitutional law class, but the due process clauses in our Fifth and 14th Amendments do not apply to House proceedings.

Rather, the constitutional proceeding which does apply here is Article I, Section 5, Clause 2, which states clearly and simply: ``Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.'' It is that simple, Mr. Speaker.

While constitutional due process does not apply here, George Santos has actually been afforded every single element of it through the bipartisan Ethics Committee process. Due process requires notice and opportunity to be heard and a decision by a fair and impartial tribunal.

First, Santos got his notice when the Ethics Committee informed him of the probe into his conduct.

Second, Santos had every opportunity to be heard when the Ethics Committee invited him to confront the accusations against him, an invitation Santos rejected.

Finally, his tribunal is us, the House of Representatives, whose collective impartiality is proven every day by the partisan fights we have day in and day out.

Mr. Speaker, while this proceeding is not covered by the Due Process Clause, George Santos has indeed been afforded much more process than a person in his shoes deserves.

Mr. Speaker, let me speak on the matter of election integrity. Before I came to the House, I was my county's elections commissioner for 7 years, where I fought for more integrity in our elections. As elections commissioner, I fought for removing deceased voters from our rolls, for voter ID, against fraudulently submitted absentee ballots, and against voters being registered in two different places.

Following the 2016 and 2020 elections, Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle voted not to certify those elections, stating the results were not reliable.

Tomorrow, by voting ``yes'' to expulsion, Republicans and Democrats can stand for election integrity and against voter fraud because there is no more provable case of election fraud before this Congress than George Santos' 2022 election fraud.

Mr. Speaker, I offer that New Yorkers from Queens and Nassau Counties deserve better than George Santos, a total fraud and serial liar, representing them in Congress. Each day that Mr. Santos is allowed to remain a Member of Congress, my New York neighbors to the west are being denied real representation in these Halls. That is because their Representative is incapable of getting a bill passed, a project funded, or even sitting on a committee because he lacks the minimum amount of trust necessary to be a Member of Congress.

Today, the best way to support my fellow New Yorkers and overcome George Santos' fraud is to expel George Santos from the House of Representatives.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source