At least five New York Republicans expressed support for a House Democrat-led resolution to censure fellow statesman Rep. George Santos (R-NY) after the lawmaker was indicted earlier this year on several campaign-related charges.

“I was the first to call for his resignation,” Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) told Axios in a statement. “I’ve said on the floor that he is a stain to our institution, and I’d vote to censure.”

House Democrats recently began preparing to force a vote to censure the embattled representative, which they hope to bring to the floor before the end of the August recess unless the Ethics Committee follows up with an investigation launched into Santos earlier this year after the accusations were made against him.

Federal prosecutors indicted Santos with over 13 counts in March, forcing the freshman congressman to surrender to authorities and appear in court. Seven counts included wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.

Santos has also been accused of telling donors that funds would be used toward his campaign, but reports previously claimed that he used the money to buy designer clothes, alleviate personal credit card debt, and spend lavishly on other items unrelated to his race for Congress.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who introduced the resolution, told POLITICO that lawmakers “should have no issue in voting to formally censure him for defrauding the people of the United States and disgracing our institution.”

New York Republican Reps. Mike Lawler, Nick Langworthy, and Nick LaLota have all signaled they would vote in favor of the resolution.

Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY) said he doubts that his colleagues on the other side of the aisle would follow through with a forced vote, but would support the resolution should it come to a vote.

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“I don’t think he should be a member of Congress,” Molinaro said.

“The question is: is the Democrat leadership actually serious about bringing it to a vote? We haven’t heard they are,” he said.

Although Santos has previously admitted to lying to voters about his resume, including where he attended college and aspects of his employment history, he tweeted on Monday that his congressional record continues to serve his constituents.

“Democrats on the other side of the aisle have completely lost focus on the work they should be doing,” Santos said in a tweet on Monday. “My record proves that my office is hard at work, serving constituents and crafting keen legislation.”

Tim Meads contributed to this report.

U.S. Senate lawmakers on Tuesday added legislation targeting transnational criminal organizations trafficking fentanyl into American communities to their version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina introduced the “Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence Off Fentanyl Act,” a standalone anti-fentanyl trafficking legislation aimed toward the financial assets of several major Mexican Cartel organizations involved with synthetic opioid traffickers and suppliers.

“Mexican traffickers and Chinese drug suppliers are fueling America’s fentanyl crisis,” Scott told The Daily Wire in a statement.

According to the bill, U.S. government agencies could enhance current laws to disrupt illicit opioid supply chains and penalize those facilitating the trafficking of fentanyl. The bill would also aim to hold accountable imposed sanctions on the illicit drug trade and on those who profit from the transactions through money laundering schemes.

Fentanyl overdoses have become the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18-45 in the last few years, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

More than 107,000 Americans died in 2021 from violence and drug overdoses tied to two major Mexican drug cartels — the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation criminal organizations, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram told Republican members of a House Appropriations Committee panel during a budget hearing earlier this year.

Nearly 65% of overdose deaths were caused by fentanyl.

Milgram called both organizations “the greatest drug threat this country has ever faced.”

“The drug cartels responsible for bringing fentanyl into this country are ruthless and extremely violent criminal enterprises,” Milgram said. “They rely on a global supply chain to manufacture and distribute fentanyl, and they rely on a global illicit financial network to pocket billions of dollars.”

DEA officials mapped out the multi-faceted fentanyl crisis three years ago as the flow of the deadly opioid became more diverse compared to its start in 2014. According to the agency, Mexico and China are the primary sources, along with India, for fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked directly into the United States.

DEA officials seized over 379 million deadly doses of fentanyl last year, enough to supply a lethal dose to every American.

“Given the sharp increase in fentanyl-caused deaths, it is clear that a staggering amount of fentanyl is making its way into our country from the chemical suppliers in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and drug cartels in Mexico,” Scott’s new release said.

“By including this bill in the NDAA, we’re one step closer to ensuring our country can defend our communities from this deadly drug and protecting our national security,” he added.

U.S. Senators are set to vote on the defense policy bill this week, which has amassed at least 62 Senate cosponsors since lawmakers first introduced the legislation in April.

The GOP-led House passed its version of the annual NDAA on Thursday with key conservative provisions that face long odds in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

House lawmakers passed the bill along partisan lines in a 219-210 vote, which included amendments that prohibited funding Pentagon funding for travel for women seeking abortions and paying for transgender procedures on military service members.

Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.