Next week's vote on expelling George Santos from the House

A vote for the expulsion of Republican Representative George Santos from the US House of Representatives is scheduled for next week after members of his own party called for it. Congressman Anthony D'Esposito made the demand on Thursday and read out the resolution. The move follows the filing of 23 charges against Santos, including identity theft, by prosecutors earlier this month. While Santos denies the charges and refuses to resign, he has faced mounting pressure to step down, with several other Republicans from his home state of New York supporting the resolution. D'Esposito and his colleagues argue that the indictments and investigations into Santos' conduct provide a justification for his expulsion. Santos took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to state that he will not resign and that he is entitled to due process. Expelling a member of the House of Representatives is uncommon, requiring a two-thirds vote rather than a simple majority, as stipulated by the US Constitution. The most recent instances of expulsion occurred over four decades ago, and Santos' scandals mark some of the most serious allegations faced by a member of Congress in recent years. They include accusations of lying about educational and professional qualifications, violating campaign finance and conflict of interest laws, making false claims about his grandparents surviving the Holocaust, and creating a fraudulent animal charity to misappropriate funds intended for a veteran's dog. Santos' top campaign staffer pleaded guilty to charges of fraud earlier this month. He faces a total of 23 federal charges, and the expulsion votes are being sought by four Republicans who represent districts won by Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election, putting their re-election prospects in jeopardy. The Republican party currently holds a slim majority in the House of Representatives, and Santos' expulsion would result in a loss of one vote for the party. Previous attempts to expel him from Congress have been unsuccessful, with Democrats failing to garner support from Republicans when they introduced a similar resolution in May. Instead, Republicans chose to refer Santos to the House Ethics Committee.