Lawmakers spoof Santos, Boebert at annual Congressional Dinner

He was booted from the House last month, but former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) loomed large at the Washington Press Club Foundation’s annual Congressional Dinner on Wednesday, as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle unveiled their best zingers and one-liners.

“Last year, George Santos said he was Jew-ish,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the audience of lawmakers, journalists and D.C. movers and shakers at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in downtown Washington on Wednesday.

“Now he has a new ethnicity: He’s fin-ished,” Schumer cracked.

The House voted to expel Santos — who’s facing federal indictment on 23 counts of wire fraud, identity theft and other campaign finance charges — in December.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) also quipped about Santos’s ouster in his remarks, saying the vote removed “the only gay astronaut ever elected to the United States Congress.”

Santos even had top billing on the program of the 78th annual Congressional Dinner, with an illustrated version of the 35-year-old ex-congressman gracing the cover.

Santos appeared to delight in the notoriety, writing on social media that the Washington Press Club Foundation “has some jokes tonight!”

The event recognized The New York Times’s Elisabeth Bumiller with an editorial leadership award, and bestowed congressional reporting honors on Nick Grube, of the Honolulu Civil Beat, and The Boston Globe’s Tal Kopan.

Longtime political reporter Janet Hook was presented with a lifetime achievement award.

While the night traditionally features roast-like remarks from a pair of lawmakers on opposite sides of the aisle, Sen. Tina Smith said she had to skip out on the soiree after coming down with the flu.

But the Minnesota Democrat was able to throw in a few one-liners aimed at Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips (Minn.) in a recorded message played during the ceremony.

“I would feel terrible if I showed up and got everybody sick. The only way it would’ve worked would have been if everybody agreed to leave the room when I got up and started talking. You know, kind of like a Dean Phillips rally,” Smith said.

“Poor Dean, he took a real beating in New Hampshire. But he’s staying on the ballot in South Carolina, because you can’t spell ‘Phillips’ with only one ‘L,’” Smith deadpanned.

Rep. Lisa McClain (Mich.), repping the Republican side at the dinner, received a mixed reception from the audience with her quips.

“Just like at the southern border, I’m already here, so you’re not getting rid of me anytime soon!” McClain exclaimed.

She couldn’t resist ribbing her GOP colleague, Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), who was kicked out of a Denver production of “Beetlejuice” last year for vaping and causing a disturbance.

“Just to lay some ground rules: If you could, for the speech tonight, if everyone could please keep their hands above the table. And I know it’s date night for some of you, but no inappropriate touching. That includes you, Lauren Boebert. No vaping either,” McClain said.

McClain also threw some across-the-aisle barbs to a mix of chuckles and groans: “All the members here, we had our last vote tonight. So there’s no rush. We are not in a rush. There’s no need to pull that fire alarm, Jamaal Bowman.”

The House Ethics Committee announced last week that it had ended its investigation into Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) for pulling a fire alarm in the Capitol complex during a debate over government funding last fall.

It wasn’t only the wisecracks onstage raising eyebrows — Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), sporting a tuxedo sweatshirt and smiling alongside wife Gisele Barreto Fetterman, was seen obliging guest after guest who requested to have their photo snapped with him.

Other lawmakers eyed at the event: Reps. Ben Cline (R-Va.), Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), Blake Moore (R-Utah), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).