USA TODAY International Edition
Santos steps down from House committees
WASHINGTON – Embattled New York Republican Rep. George Santos stepped down from his House committee seats early Tuesday as pressure mounted for him to step down from Congress.
But Santos, a freshman who has defied criticism and pledged to serve his full two- year term despite calls for his removal, indicated that recusing himself from committees may be a temporary move and that he would return to his positions once his legal and ethical reviews are resolved.
“With the ongoing attention surrounding both my personal and campaign financial investigations, I have submitted a request to Speaker McCarthy that I be temporarily recused from my committee assignments until I am cleared,” said Congressman Santos. “This was a decision that I take very seriously.”
Santos “voluntarily” stepped aside, said Rep. Elise Stefanik, a fellow New York Republican and the House GOP conference chair, in a news conference with House GOP leaders Tuesday morning at the Capitol.
His resignation from the House Small Business and Science, Space and Technology committees comes a day after he met with Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
McCarthy told reporters Tuesday that Santos stepping aside was “an appropriate decision.”
The decision confused some Democrats, analysts and academics.
“It strikes me as an unusual step as somebody who has been so adamant about staying in office, basically dismissing his fabrications as embellishments and basically staying the course,” said Gregory Wawro, a professor of political science at Columbia University.
House Democratic Chair Pete Aguilar said Tuesday at a Democratic leadership news conference that he was “struck by the chaos, confusion, dysfunction of the Republican conference.”
“They defended putting him on committees and now they’re announcing that he’s not going to serve on committees,” he said. “I just don’t know what the play of the day is.”
Santos is facing legal scrutiny about his campaign finances, a House Ethics Committee complaint and calls to resign, including from his own party.
Some of that pressure was extending to McCarthy and other House Republican leaders, who seated Santos on committees but are trying to galvanize votes to oust Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Tuesday that Republicans wouldn’t object to her nomination but that they would move to vote her off the committee. She would be able to be seated on other committees, but not Foreign Affairs, he said.
Santos said Tuesday that the Omar debate factored into his decision and that he didn’t want to distract from the chance to remove her.
“He doesn’t have a lot of levers to pull to get the attention off him,” said Casey Burgat, director of the legislative affairs program at George Washington University. “Without resigning from Congress completely ... pressure will continue to build.”