The House voted on Thursday to censure Representative Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.) for pulling a fire alarm in a Capitol Hill office building in what Republicans argue was an attempt to delay a pivotal vote.
The House voted 214-191 to censure the progressive freshman lawmaker, with 211 Republicans and three Democrats voting in favor. Five members voted “present.”
The motion accused the “Squad” member of disrupting “the work of the Congress as a vote was underway” and denounced Bowman’s actions as a “theatrical attempt to cause panic, therefore endangering the safety and well-being of Members of the House, of staff, and members of the public on the Capitol grounds.” The House was voting on a stopgap spending bill that would have averted a government shutdown when Bowman pulled the alarm on September 30.
On Wednesday, House Democrats failed to block the censure resolution that was introduced by Lisa McClain (R., Mich.). “It’s painfully obvious to myself and my colleagues and the American people that the Republican Party is unserious and unable to legislate,” Bowman said. “In no way did I obstruct official proceedings.”
In late October, Bowman was charged by Capitol Police with a misdemeanor for pulling a fire alarm under false pretenses. He pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a $1,000 fine.
Bowman said in an earlier affidavit filed in a Washington, D.C., Superior Court that he triggered the alarm while attempting to open a locked door and didn’t tell anyone about the incident until the Sergeant at Arms contacted him. The New York representative denied any intention “to cause a fire alarm,” “to cause a security concern,” or disruption aimed at obstructing a congressional proceeding.
“I’m thankful from the District of Columbia Attorney General’s office on this issue and grateful that the United States Capitol Police General Counsel’s agreed I did not obstruct or intend to obstruct any House vote or proceedings,” Bowman said in a statement shortly after the announcement. “I am responsible for activating a fire alarm, I will be paying the fine issued, and look forward to these charges being ultimately dropped,” he added.
The Capitol Police responded with a statement of their own denying that their investigation had cleared Bowman of intentionally pulling the alarm.
House Republicans argued that Bowman had done it intentionally to postpone a crucial vote avoiding a government shutdown. Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R., N.Y.) at the time called for a resolution demanding Bowman’s expulsion from Congress following the incident: “This is the United States Congress, not a New York City high school.” Then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), who announced his retirement plans on Wednesday, said the House Ethics Committee should open an investigation.
Bowman responded to the accusations in a statement shortly after the September 30 incident insisting that it was not a vote-delaying tactic. “It was the exact opposite,” he said in a statement. “I was trying urgently to get to a vote, which I ultimately did, and joined my colleagues in a bipartisan effort to keep our government open. I also met after the vote with the Sergeant at Arms and the Capitol Police, at their request, and explained what had happened.”
Bowman’s office later distributed talking points to fellow House Democrats comparing Republicans to behaving like “Nazis” in a bid to deflect attention from the matter. “I believe Congressman Bowman when he says this was an accident,” a memo drafted by the representative’s office reads. “Republicans need to instead focus their energy on the Nazi members of their party before anything else.”
Another bullet point encouraged Democratic representatives to place blame on “MAGA” Republicans for “last-minute votes” pertaining to the stopgap spending bill. Another said the “signage on the doors is unnecessarily confusing.”