US Congress Member Expelled美国国会议员被开除

US Congress Member Expelled

美国国会议员被开除

【原文听力】

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　　By Hai Do

　　01 December 2023

　　The U.S. House of Representatives voted to remove Republican Congressman George Santos of New York on Friday.

　　The House voted 311 to 114 to immediately remove Santos. A two-thirds majority is required to expel a member from the House. Santos became just the sixth member to be removed in the history of the United States. Three lawmakers were removed for disloyalty during the U.S. Civil War. And two were removed after being found guilty of crimes in federal court.

　　The vote to remove Santos came after a House ethics report accused him of defrauding donors and using campaign money for his personal use. The 56-page report contained "overwhelming evidence" of lawbreaking, violations of ethics and "misstatements" during his 2022 campaign.

　　A long record of wrongdoing

　　The 35-year-old Santos has been accused of wrongdoing since he was first elected to Congress in November 2022.

　　Santos admitted that he made up his life story following several newspaper reports. He falsely claimed that his grandparents were Jewish and that they escaped the Holocaust. But his mother's immigration record said they were born in Brazil.

　　Santos claimed that his family owns and collects rent money on 13 properties. There are no records of Santos or his family ever owning any property. And Santos himself has been brought to court repeatedly for not paying rent.

　　Newspaper reports discovered that Santos also lied about his education at New York University, his work history with financial companies Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and his involvement in a check fraud case in Brazil. There were no records of Santos ever going to college or working at the companies. Santos later admitted to the crime and paid money in the case in Brazil.

　　He is currently facing federal criminal charges including stealing public money, misuse of campaign money, credit card fraud and making false statements. Santos has pleaded not guilty to those charges. But two former campaign aides have pleaded guilty to related charges.

　　A bipartisan congressional investigation last month found that he used congressional campaign money to pay for almost $4,000 in spa treatments, including Botox, a kind of beauty injection. He also spent more than $4,000 of campaign money on luxury goods and made "smaller purchases" from OnlyFans, an online website known for sexual material.

　　Santos rejected repeated calls for him to resign. Before the House vote to remove him, Santos said, "The people of the Third District of New York sent me here. If they want me out, you're going to have to go silence those people and go take the hard vote."

　　His expulsion will shrink the Republican's narrow majority. And New York State Governor Kathy Hochul of the Democratic Party now has 10 days to call a special election for the seat representing part of Long Island.

　　I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

　　Hai Do adapted this report for VOA Learning English from Associated Press and Reuters sources.

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　　作者：Hai Do

　　2023年12月1日

　　美国众议院于周五投票决定开除纽约州的共和党国会议员乔治·桑托斯。

　　众议院以311票对114票的结果立即开除了桑托斯。开除众议院议员需要三分之二的多数票。桑托斯成为美国历史上仅有的六位被开除的成员之一。在美国内战期间，有三位议员因不忠诚被开除。另外两位在联邦法院被判有罪后被开除。

　　对桑托斯的开除投票是在众议院道德报告指控他欺诈捐赠者并将竞选资金用于个人用途后进行的。这份56页的报告包含了他在2022年竞选期间违法、违反道德和“误报”的“压倒性证据”。

　　长期的不当行为记录，

　　35岁的桑托斯自2022年11月首次当选为国会议员以来，就一直被指控有不当行为。

　　在几份报纸的报道后，桑托斯承认他编造了自己的生活故事。他虚假地声称他的祖父母是犹太人，并且他们逃脱了大屠杀。但他母亲的移民记录显示他们是在巴西出生的。

　　桑托斯声称他的家庭拥有并收取13处物业的租金。但没有任何记录显示桑托斯或他的家庭曾经拥有任何财产。而桑托斯本人因为未支付租金而被多次告上法庭。

　　报纸报道发现，桑托斯还在纽约大学的教育背景、在高盛和花旗集团的工作经历，以及他在巴西的一起支票欺诈案件中的涉及情况上撒谎。没有任何记录显示桑托斯曾经上过大学或在这些公司工作过。桑托斯后来承认了在巴西的案件中的罪行，并支付了罚款。

　　他目前面临联邦刑事指控，包括盗窃公款、滥用竞选资金、信用卡欺诈和做出虚假陈述。桑托斯对这些指控均表示不认罪。但有两名前竞选助手对相关指控表示认罪。

　　上个月的一项两党国会调查发现，他用国会竞选资金支付了近4000美元的水疗治疗费用，包括肉毒杆菌，一种美容注射。他还花费了超过4000美元的竞选资金购买奢侈品，并在OnlyFans（一个以性感内容闻名的在线网站）上进行了“小额购买”。

　　桑托斯拒绝了多次要求他辞职的呼声。在众议院投票决定开除他之前，桑托斯说：“纽约第三选区的人民送我来这里。如果他们想让我走，你们就得去压制那些人，去进行艰难的投票。”

　　他的开除将缩小共和党的微弱多数。现在，来自民主党的纽约州州长凯西·霍楚尔有10天的时间来为代表长岛部分地区的席位召开特别选举。

　　我是马里奥·里特尔，Jr。

　　Hai Do从美联社和路透社的报道中改编了这篇为VOA学习英语的报道。

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　　本文中的词汇

　　defraud –v. 欺诈，骗取他人财物

　　overwhelming –adj. 大量的，压倒性的

　　rent –n. 租金，对使用财产（如公寓或住宅）的定期支付

　　spa –n. 水疗中心，人们去那里改善健康、美容、接受美容治疗或放松

　　luxury –n. 奢侈品，昂贵且非必需的东西