Snafu Mistakenly Announces Swear-In For Lawler, Other House Members

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — It is possible that when history books record what went on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., during the first day of the new Congress, there may be an asterisk attached to some freshman members of the House of Representatives.

It is true that no speaker of the House was chosen, with California’s Kevin McCarthy unable to reach a majority of votes.

With no speaker, there was no business conducted by the House of Representatives. With no business being conducted, no members of the House could be sworn in.

Unfortunately, several freshman members of the House had identical press releases published on their government websites announcing they had been sworn in.

On that list, according to The Washington Post, were Republican Rep.-elect George Santos of Long Island, who has been receiving numerous headlines for embellishing his resume and possibly more, Democratic Cong.-elect Robert Garcia and Michael Lawler, a Republican from the Hudson Valley, who was elected to the new 17th Congressional District.

Nathaniel Soule, a spokesman for Lawler, told Patch that the publishing of the release was an error on the part of the House chief administrative officer, who accidentally posted a form press release for all incoming House freshmen.

“None of the 75 House Freshman who had [the] statement automatically post on their websites signed off on them,” Soule said in an email.

In spite of not being sworn in, Lawler consistently voted for McCarthy to become the next speaker.

He told “Morning Joe” Tuesday that the vast majority of House Republicans support McCarthy and they are “not going to allow the conference to be held hostage” by a small group of people with petty grievances.