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Jan. 7 (UPI) — Rep. George Santos, accused of fabricating key parts of his resume, was sworn into office Saturday along with 434 members of the House of Representatives after Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s election as speaker.
The swearing in came at 1:40 a.m., after McCarthy was able to sway enough of his Republican colleagues to cast their votes for him, a process that began Tuesday and lasted 15 rounds.
House lawmakers could not be sworn in until a House Speaker is elected.
“Congratulations, you are now members of the 118th Congress,” McCarthy said following the swearing in, eliciting cheers despite the late hour.
Among the new members to take the oath was Santos, a New York Republican. The 34-year-old has been under fire since admitting in December that he never graduated from university, let alone from New York’s Baruch College as he claimed, nor did he work for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs as he had said.
The first-term congressman also lied about his background when he said his grandparents ”fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during WWII.”
Democrats have been calling for his resignation since the news broke late last month. Santos has apologized for the errors but steadfastly refused to resign and was sworn in Saturday to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District despite the continued scrutiny.
Santos was elected after campaigning on restoring the “American dream” that his Brazilian parents were able to achieve. But a New York Times investigation later revealed that nearly all of the biography on his website was false.
Santos voted for McCarthy through all 15 rounds of balloting.
One vacancy remains in the 435-member House after the November death of Rep. Donald McEachin, D-Va. His seat will be filled through a special election next month.
