The House on Wednesday voted largely along party lines to refer a resolution to expel Rep. George Santos to the Ethics Committee.

The resolution to expel the freshman lawmaker was introduced on Tuesday by Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. Because Garcia filed it as a privileged motion, under House rules, Republicans were forced to put it to a vote, move to table it, or refer it to a committee within two days. They chose to refer it to the Ethics Committee, a move criticized by Democrats, who were looking to quickly oust Santos, R-N.Y., from their ranks.

U.S. Rep. George Santos speaks to reporters as he leaves the federal courthouse in Central Islip, N.Y. on May 10. Seth Wenig/Associated Press

The final vote on the motion to refer the resolution to the ethics panel was 221-204. Seven lawmakers voted present. While Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the Ethics Committee, and the four other Democrats who are part of the panel voted “present” in the tally, Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., who chairs the committee, and all GOP members of the panel voted in favor of referring the resolution to their committee.

Santos also voted to refer to the resolution.

The matter is now in the hands of the House Ethics Committee, which has been investigating Santos since March and is looking into a list of claims about the freshman congressman, including about his past business practices, campaign finance expenditures, and an allegation of sexual misconduct.

Democrats’ efforts to oust Santos from Congress came days after federal prosecutors charged him with 13 financial crimes, including defrauding his donors, using their money for his benefit, and wrongfully claiming unemployment benefits.

Santos faces seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of lying to the House on financial forms in that case. He pleaded not guilty on May 10 to all the charges, denied criminal wrongdoing, and called the legal inquiries a “witch hunt.”

On Wednesday morning, Garcia described the efforts of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to send his motion to the Ethics Committee as a “cop-out,” noting that the committee is already investigating Santos. In a news briefing at the Capitol, Garcia listed many of Santos’s lies and urged Congress to quickly oust the freshman lawmaker, whom he described as an “embarrassment to the House and the country.”

“Every Republican should stand up and join us to defend this body and expel George Santos,” he said.

Speaking to reporters as he left the Capitol after the vote, Santos thanked Republican leadership for pushing for a vote to refer the motion to the Ethics Committee.

“In this country, everybody is innocent until proven guilty,” Santos said. “You can’t be judge, jury, and executioner. I have a right – a constitutional right – to defend myself, and I will do that.”

Santos said that if the Ethics Committee finds a reason to remove him, “that is the process.”

In March, the Ethics Committee voted to create a bipartisan subcommittee to investigate claims about Santos.

In its March statement, the ethics panel said it is working to determine whether Santos, 34, may have “engaged in unlawful activity concerning 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 towards an individual seeking employment in his congressional office.”

McCarthy on Tuesday rebuffed the effort by Democrats to expel Santos from the chamber, telling reporters the matter should be handled by the bipartisan Ethics Committee.

“I think these accusations are very serious,” but “you have to have a process,” McCarthy said Tuesday in Washington. “I don’t want to wait around for the courts to act,” and the Ethics Committee could work “faster” than the courts, he said.

Several House Republicans who previously called for Santos to resign on Wednesday said before the vote that they supported sending the case to the committee.

Rep. Michael Lawler, R-N.Y., who said in a statement this month that Santos had “lost the confidence and support of his party” and “should resign,” accused Democrats of playing politics by pushing for a vote to expel instead of letting the Ethics Committee handle Santos. He said he trusts the committee’s ability to “make a swift determination on this that can satisfy the entire body of Congress.”

“Never before has a member of Congress, from either party, been removed without a criminal conviction or a referral – which is why I support the effort to refer the matter of George Santos’s expulsion to the Ethics Committee,” he said in a statement. “If the Democrats were serious about his expulsion, they would work with us to get a report and referral from the Ethics Committee, rather than offer a political resolution that has no chance of passing the House.”

And Rep. Brandon Williams, R-N.Y. said in a statement Wednesday that he’s actively encouraging GOP leadership and the Nassau County GOP to “immediately find and get behind George’s replacement.”

“George’s days are numbered in the House,” William said.

Another New York Republican, Rep. Nick LaLota, appeared disappointed that his House colleagues were not willing to oust Santos immediately.

“While I would have preferred there to be enough votes to expel the sociopath scam artist, Congressman D’Esposito has spearheaded the next best option: To refer this matter to the Ethics Committee where we expect a result within 60 days and for the terrible liar to be gone, by resignation or expulsion, before August recess,” LaLota said in a statement after the vote.

While McCarthy and other House Republicans argued that the Ethics Committee could move rapidly on an investigation of Santos, recent precedent shows that may not be the case.

In recent cases in which a House member was subject to a criminal indictment, the Justice Department has requested that the Ethics Committee pause its investigation of the member.

Examples include Ethics Committee investigations of former representatives Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., who resigned last year after being found guilty of lying to the FBI; Chris Collins, R-N.Y., who in 2020 was sentenced to 26 months in prison for his part in an insider-trading scheme and lying to the FBI; and Corrine Brown, D-Fla., who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2017 after being convicted of fraud.

In all those instances, the Justice Department asked the Ethics Committee to “defer consideration” of matters related to the then-lawmakers.

Speaking to reporters outside the Capitol moments before the vote, Garcia said Democrats will continue pressing to expel Santos from the House, “even though Republicans are] trying this maneuver.”

“He should not be in Congress,” he said.

The Washington Post’s Azi Paybarah, Camila DeChalus, and Marianna Sotomayor contributed to this report.