That’s the excuse Republicans are using for doing nothing about George Santos.
It’s what GOP House leader McCarthy said three weeks ago (see story here), and it’s the line GOP House caucus chair Stefanik parroted again today (see story here).
Let’s examine the logic of their argument. First, the Constitution empowers Congress to refuse to seat or remove members by a supermajority vote. This clearly indicates the Founding Fathers had the foresight to provide for extraordinary circumstances such as we have here.
Second, the voters didn’t elect the guy occupying that seat, they elected someone else, a person who doesn’t exist. Everything the candidate told them about himself was a fabrication — including, apparently, his name.
Third, if you follow McCarthy’s and Stefanik’s argument to its logical and most extreme conclusion, then nobody would ever be barred from serving on Congress for anything. Voters could elect a serial killer or bank robber to Congress (and from what we know about voters, some would), and these two clowns would shrug and do nothing. At a minimum, you don’t call people like that “leaders.”
McCarthy did, however, allow Santos to “voluntarily” remove himself from the inconsequential committees he’d plunked him on pending resolution of what appears to be developing into a potential felony prosecution for running what increasingly looks like a Ponzi scheme. It was good of Santos to do what McCarthy and Stefanik wouldn’t.
On the other hand, if you see Santos rubbing a sore arm (from being twisted behind his back), that would suggest that McCarthy’s “rule” about leaving things to the voters in all cases, no matter what, is so stupid even he won’t follow it.