Punishment efforts fail: Embattled Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) survived an effort to expel him from the House, with 31 House Democrats opposing the measure — and 24 Republicans supporting it. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), one of the more eyebrow-raising Democrats to vote against expelling Santos, said in a statement it would be “a terrible precedent to set, expelling people who have not been convicted of a crime and without internal due process” Raskin also noted that he “certainly would” vote to expel him if Santos was found guilty later.
Also opposing the effort: Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.), the son of indicted senator Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.).
Lawmakers also voted to table an effort to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). And Democrats abandoned — for now — a push to censure Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
The House also voted by wide margins to adopt a resolution declaring Iran with nuclear weapons is “not acceptable” and a bill to sanction foreign supporters of the Hamas and other terrorist entities.
Several dozen members missed these votes on Wednesday evening, so keep a close eye on attendance as the chamber prepares to move a standalone bill providing emergency aid for Israel on Thursday (more on the CBO score of that legislation).
It was also a heated Wednesday evening on the other side of the Capitol, where Republican senators tried for hours to confirm military promotions one-by-one, only to see Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) object each time.
“No matter whether you believe it or not, Sen. Tuberville, this is doing great damage to our military,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said at one point as GOP senators tried to confirm more than 60 nominees. Senators, led by Dan Sullivan (Alaska) and Joni Ernst (Iowa), vowed they would keep trying.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has implored Republicans to get Tuberville to release his holds over Pentagon abortion policy. Wednesday’s floor confrontation marked a rare public escalation of the months-long fight.
