Rep. Santos is referred to the ethics panel by the House, which votes to submit the expulsion resolution to them instead.

On Wednesday, House Republican leaders held a vote to forward the Democratic-proposed resolution to the House Ethics Committee rather than taking an official vote on the expulsion of GOP Rep. George Santos.

On a party-line vote of 221-204, the whole House approved the Republican motion with seven members voting.

The proposal was approved by a vote of the committee's five Republicans and all five Democrats who were present. Representatives Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., both cast present votes.

The move to refer was made by Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, R-N.Y., who represents a district next to Santos' and called Santos "a stain on this institution, a stain on the state of New York, a stain on Long Island, and a stain on the beloved Nassau County."

D'Esposito declared on the floor of the House on Wednesday, "I am personally in favour of this person's expulsion from this House." Unfortunately, though, I believe that we do not now have the two-thirds majority of members in this House necessary to eject that person.

Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democrat from California, proposed a motion to kick Santos out of the house. Republicans, however, were not anticipated to vote on the resolution since House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced on Tuesday that he would hold

Voting against bringing the resolution to the House Ethics Committee was against the instructions given by House Democratic leaders to their members. Garcia said that the purpose of his proposal to banish Santos was to put Republicans on the record.

If Republicans are going to truly support someone who is a chronic liar and fraud, they should be on record now since there hasn't been any action. The American people will be monitoring their ballots, and they'll have to record them, Garcia said on Tuesday.

One day after the House Ethics Committee unanimously decided to create a "Investigative Subcommittee" to look into the allegations made against Santos, Santos declared in March that he would cooperate "100%" with the decision.

After the vote on Wednesday, Santos informed the media that he thought sending the resolution to the ethics panel was the right course of action.

I will exercise my constitutional right to self-defense, and I am looking forward to doing so. Santos remarked to ABC News during an impromptu news conference that was cut short by heckling senators, "I look forward to watching the process play out.

"I believe that this was the best course of action for all of us, and I am looking forward to putting up a fight going ahead. Innocent unless proven guilty once more. We all own that right, he remarked.

When questioned about whether he would step down if the Ethics Committee suggested it, he responded, "Of course."

Santos said that despite being the subject of many investigations, he is hard at work performing his duties.

If Santos "engaged in unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign; failed to properly disclose required information on statements filed with the House; violated federal conflict of interest laws in connection with his role in a firm providing fiduciary services; and/or engaged in sexual misconduct," are some of the allegations the House ethics subcommittee is looking into.

The congressman has already admitted making several false statements about his past, most notably that he graduated from college, which he did not, but he has maintained that his actions were typical of résumé embellishment. The claims of sexual misbehaviour and any other wrongdoing on his part have been refuted.

According to federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York, Santos was charged last week with 13 criminal offences, including seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of stealing public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.

He entered a not guilty plea to every accusation

Twenty members of Congress have been kicked out, including 17 for their 1861 and 1862 Confederate support. five individuals were the only In American history, houses have been kicked out.