众议院共和党人在是否以及如何惩罚四面楚歌的众议员乔治·桑多斯(George Santos)的问题上陷入困境，桑多斯是一名立法者，他既吸引了无休止的争议，又在分歧严重的众议院中占据关键席位。
这位纽约共和党人谎报或美化了他的商业经历、教育、宗教、运动能力等等赶走要求他辞职的呼声来自长岛的共和党人和越来越多他的共和党国会同僚-目前为止有7个。
这让加州共和党议长凯文·麦卡锡陷入了一个难题:是继续留在桑托斯身边，面对对他行为的无休止的质疑，还是鉴于他所在政党的微弱多数，几乎没有多余的选票将他驱逐出境。
"他的投票是必要的，但真的值得吗?"一位不愿透露姓名的众议院共和党人坦率地讨论了关于桑托斯的辩论，当被问及泡菜时，他哀叹道。“在这场闹剧之后，如果我们继续这样下去，两年后我们就不会拥有多数席位了。”
面对选择更小的众议院差额还是更大的头痛，似乎大多数立法者都公开选择头痛，声称他的命运不在他们手中。
“嗯，那是乔治和他的选民之间的事情。所以，我认为事情就是这样。佛罗里达州众议员拜伦·唐纳兹(Byron Donalds)周三在谈到桑托斯周围的政治风暴时对记者说。
“当你让你的地方政党如此直言不讳地说一些事情，这不是一个有益的迹象，但我们将把这件事交给常规的规范程序，这对于这个机构来说是传统的，也是符合法律的，”共和党众议员帕特里克·麦克亨利补充说，他指的是拿骚县共和党推动桑托斯下台。
麦卡锡和其他众议院领导人表示，他们计划暂时在内部处理这个问题，并坚持认为，鉴于他尚未被判犯有任何特定罪行，他不会被踢出去——这一评论符合众议院共和党的传统，也有助于保护该党的优势。
“要赢得信任，他还有很长的路要走。但我知道的一件事是你对所有美国人平等适用宪法。他选区的选民选了他。他坐着。他是共和党会议的成员。有人对他表示担忧，因此他将接受(众议院道德委员会)的调查。如果发现任何问题，他将像这个机构中的任何其他人一样承担责任，”麦卡锡周四表示。
麦卡锡说:“国会必须调查”拜登文件很重要
考虑到纽约州民主党州长凯西·霍楚尔(Kathy Hochul)在何时安排特别选举方面有很大的回旋余地，纽约州关于如何处理众议院空缺的法律可能会增加共和党人对推动桑托斯出局甚至罢免他的沉默。
Hochul将没有为特别选举选择日期的最后期限，允许她让当地民主党人招募一名挑战者，并在合适的时机触发比赛-这是该党暗示正在计划的事情。
“如果有空缺，我们将准备好候选人，我们将赢回那个地区，”拿骚县民主党主席杰伊·雅各布斯说。
共和党人也指出，在一个利润微薄的议会中，长期空缺的可能性可能会在决定向桑托斯施加多大压力方面发挥作用。
前纽约州州长乔治·帕塔基的前助手汤姆·多尔蒂说，霍舒尔的权力“非常广泛”，“然后这就变成了一个非常政治化的局面，民主党人什么时候举行选举最合适?这将是她的一个考虑。”
即使在假设的辞职后不久举行特别选举，桑托斯在长岛和皇后区部分地区的席位竞争也非常激烈，民主党的胜利将比空缺更深入地切入麦卡锡的回旋空间。
多尔蒂说:“你完全可以预计这将是一场竞争激烈的竞选，现在共和党人的竞争将更加激烈，因为你有桑托斯，他有点失去了光彩。”
“从多个层面来看，这都是一个令人头疼的问题。这是一个令人头疼的问题，因为演讲者和他的人将不得不不断地回答这个问题。但是共和党的优势非常非常微弱。所以，他暂时需要每一张选票。”
在关于他的命运的辩论中，桑托斯坚持他将完成两年的任期，并在周四暗示他甚至可以竞选连任。
“我希望他们所有的意见，但我是由142，000人选举出来的。直到同样的142，000人告诉我他们不想要我，我们将在两年内发现，”桑多斯在史蒂夫·班农的“作战室”播客上说，这是由佛罗里达州众议员马特盖兹客席主持的
多尔蒂建议众议院共和党人的微弱优势给桑多斯一个杠杆，他可以用这个杠杆来反击对他的压力。
“他目前唯一坚持的是一个很多人都想要的国会席位，他承认这很重要，因为凯文·麦卡锡和华盛顿的共和党人需要这个席位，”他说。
尽管如此，这场漩涡仍在不断升级。
桑托斯的竞选和财务现在是几项调查的主题，增加了他的法律风险。
随着几乎每天都有新的谎言被报道，以及记者团跟踪他在华盛顿的每一步，共和党人在纽约和国会的意愿开始出现裂痕。
一群拿骚县共和党人周三抨击桑托斯的夸大其词，并呼吁他下台，拿骚共和党主席约瑟夫·开罗周三在新闻发布会上说，“他让众议院蒙羞，我们不认为他是我们的国会议员。”
七众议院共和党人现在也公开表示，他们认为他应该辞职，这一群体随着对桑托斯的指控数量的增加而增长。
“很明显，乔治·桑托斯已经失去了他的政党、他的选民和他的同事的信任和支持。鉴于对他的指控的程度和严重性，他无法为自己的行为承担全部责任，以及正在进行的大量调查，我认为他无法履行自己的职责，应该辞职，”纽约州共和党众议员迈克·劳勒(Mike Lawler)说，他是推动桑托斯下台的最新成员之一。
如果共和党人不投票驱逐桑托斯，希望看到对他进行某种惩罚的共和党人将面临一个很小的选择列表，除了众议院道德委员会的惩罚，该委员会通常不愿意批评同事。
麦卡锡已经表示，桑托斯不会在任何最高委员会任职——反正第一任期的议员几乎从来不会担任这些职位——其他共和党人也对桑托斯加入任何与国家安全有关的小组表示担忧。
然而，对其他人来说，这还不够。
“如果我们要把民主党人踢出他们的委员会，那么他也应该是第一个站在我们这边的人，”众议院共和党人说。"对母鹅有益的东西对公鹅也有益。"
桑多斯戏剧使众议院共和党人陷入政治困境
Santos drama puts House Republicans in political bind
House Republicans are in a bind over whether and how to punish embattled Rep. George Santos, a lawmaker who both attracts nonstop controversy and holds a critical seat in the narrowly divided chamber.
The New York Republican, who has lied about or embellished his business experience, education, religion, athleticism and more, is swatting away calls for his resignation from Long Island Republicans and a growing number of his GOP congressional colleagues -- seven so far.
It's leaving Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in a conundrum over whether to keep Santos in the fold and face ceaseless questions over his conduct -- or banish him with barely any votes to spare given his party's slim majority.
"His vote is needed but is it really worth it?" one House Republican, granted anonymity to candidly discuss the debate over Santos, lamented when asked about the pickle. "After this s***show, if we keep this up, we won’t have a majority in two years."
Faced with the choice of choosing a smaller House margin or a bigger headache, it appears that most lawmakers are publicly opting for the headache, claiming his fate is out of their hands.
"Well, that's something between George and his constituents. So, I think that is what it is. He's gonna figure that out with people back home," Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., told reporters Wednesday of the political storm around Santos.
"When you have your local party saying something so vocally that is not a helpful sign, but we are going to leave this up to regular normative process that is both traditional for this body and under the law," Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., added, referencing the push from the Nassau County GOP for Santos to step down.
McCarthy and other House leaders have said they plan to handle the issue internally for now and maintain he won't be kicked out given that has not yet been convicted of any particular crime -- a comment in line with House GOP tradition that also helps protect the party's margins.
"He's got a long way to go to earn trust. But the one thing I do know is you apply the Constitution equal to all Americans. The voters of his district have elected him. He is seated. He is part of the Republican conference. There are concerns with him, so he will go before [the House Ethics Committee]. If anything is found to be wrong, he will be held accountable exactly as anyone else in this body would be," McCarthy said Thursday.
Possibly adding to Republicans' reticence to nudge Santos out or even remove him is New York's laws regarding how to handle a House vacancy, given New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul's extensive leeway over when to schedule a special election.
Hochul would have no deadline on when to pick a date for a special election, allowing her to let local Democrats recruit a challenger and trigger the race at an opportune moment -- something the party is suggesting it's planning for.
"If there is a vacancy, we will be ready with a candidate, and we will win back that district," said Nassau County Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs.
Republicans, too, note that the possibility of a lengthy vacancy in a chamber with a tissue-thin margin could play a role in deciding how much pressure to apply to Santos.
Hochul's power is "very broad," said Tom Doherty, a former aide to former Gov. George Pataki, R-N.Y. "And that then becomes a very political situation of, when is the best time for that election for Democrats to take place? That'll be a consideration for her."
Even if a special election were held soon after a hypothetical resignation, Santos' seat, anchored in Long Island and parts of Queens, is highly competitive, and a Democratic win would cut into McCarthy's wiggle room even more deeply than just a vacancy.
"You would fully expect this to be a competitive race, and it's gonna be more competitive for Republicans now because of the fact that you have Santos, who is sort of tarnished," Doherty said.
"It's a headache on a number of levels. It's a headache because the speaker and his people are going to have to answer about this constantly. But Republicans have a very, very slim margin. So, he needs every vote for the time being."
Amid the debate over his fate, Santos is insistent that he'll serve his full two-year term -- and suggested Thursday he could even run for reelection.
"I wish well, all of their opinions, but I was elected by 142,000 people. Until those same 142,000 people tell me they don't want me, we'll find out in two years," Santos said on Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast, which was guest-hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
Doherty suggested House Republicans' narrow margin hands Santos leverage, which he could use to beat back pressure on him.
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"The only thing that he's holding on to at the moment is a congressional seat that a lot of people want and that he recognizes is important because Kevin McCarthy and the Republicans in D.C. need the seat," he said.
Still, the maelstrom is only escalating.
Santos' campaign and finances are the subject of several investigations now, ramping up his legal risk.
And with new falsehoods being reported nearly daily and a press corps following his every step in Washington, cracks have started emerging in Republicans' willingness to kick the can down the road, both in New York and Congress.
A group of Nassau County Republicans Wednesday panned Santos' exaggerations and called on him to step down, with Nassau GOP Chair Joseph Cairo saying at a press conference Wednesday that "he disgraced the House of Representatives, and we do not consider him our congressman."
Seven House Republicans have also now publicly said that they think he should resign, a group that's grown alongside the number of allegations about Santos.
"It is clear that George Santos has lost his confidence and support of his party, his constituents, and his colleagues. With the extent and severity of the allegations against him, his inability to take full responsibility for his conduct, and the numerous investigations underway, I believe he is unable to fulfill his duties and should resign," said Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., one of the latest member to push for Santos' ouster.
If Republicans don't vote to expel Santos, Republicans who want to see some kind of punishment for him are facing a minuscule list of options, short of a penalty from the House Ethics Committee, which is often loathe to dress down a colleague.
McCarthy has already indicated that Santos won't serve on any top committees -- spots on which almost never go to first-term lawmakers anyway -- and other Republicans have voiced concerns about Santos sitting on any panel relating to national security.
For others, though, that doesn't go far enough.
"If we are gonna be kicking Democrats off their committees, then he should be the first to go on our side, too," the House Republican said. "What’s good for the goose is good for the gander."
