July 17 (UPI) -- A House Democrat on Monday introduced a resolution to censure Republican Rep. George Santos following the failure of an effort to expel the New York lawmaker in wake of his 13-count federal indictment.
The three-page "privileged" resolution, sponsored by fellow New York lawmaker Ritchie Torres, seeks to call Santos into the well of the House "to be censured with the public reading of this resolution by the Speaker."
The measure says Santos "repeatedly lied to voters in his district, donors, and the American public during his campaign to be elected to Congress," including false claims that he is a member of the Jewish faith, that his grandparents survived the Holocaust, that his mother died during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as well as numerous false claims about his education and employment backgrounds.
The privileged status of the measure means that despite the unlikelihood of its passage in the GOP-controlled chamber, all members must vote on it, thus putting Republican lawmakers on record as opposing the censure of Santos.
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The beleaguered lawmaker last month made his first court appearance on federal charges of using campaign contributions for personal expenses and falsely collecting more than $24,000 in unemployment benefits among other alleged crimes, including two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.
Santos pleaded not guilty to the indictment and is currently out on $500,000 bond.
Democrats in May submitted a resolution to expel him from Congress, but the House voted along party lines to send the resolution to committee. Since then the bipartisan House Ethics Committee has been investigating Santos' conduct, but to date, nothing has emerged from the panel.
The motion to censure Santos would require a simply majority to pass, unlike the three-fourths vote needed for expulsion from the House. But it, too, is unlikely to pass in the GOP-led chamber.
Rather, Democratic aides told the New York Times the aim is to keep political pressure on Republicans who have refused to call for Santos' resignation as lawmakers prepare to leave town for their August recess.
