House censures Rep. Jamaal Bowman for pulling fire alarm during government shutdown vote
The House voted Thursday to censure Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) for pulling a fire alarm in a Capitol Hill office building in order to delay a vote to avert a government shutdown earlier this year.
The lower chamber voted 214-191 to reprimand the freshman Bronx and Westchester lawmaker, with 211 Republicans and three Democrats voting in support.
Reps. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.), Chris Pappas (D-NH) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) voted against their colleague. Twenty-three were absent from the chamber.
Five members voted present, including Reps. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), Deborah Ross (D-NC) and Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) from the House Ethics Committee, which declined to investigate the incident.
Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), who also sits on the ethics panel, disagreed with their vote, saying Bowman “was faced with multiple opportunities to diffuse the situation” but “chose not to alert” Capitol Police officers, “showing a shameful disregard for public safety.
“As a former Middle School Principal and sitting Member of Congress, there is no excuse for this kind of behavior,” Joyce said in a statement. “When the House Ethics Committee convened on this matter, as is required following the indictment of a Member for criminal conduct, I was shocked and disappointed that a majority of the Members of this bipartisan committee did not agree to pursue any additional action or investigation.”
“Therefore, since we are not taking up this case on the House Ethics Committee following that decision, I deemed it appropriate to vote to censure Jamaal Bowman for his disgraceful actions,” he added.
Bowman is the 27th member to be censured in the lower chamber after Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) was rebuked last month for having promoted calls to eradicate Israel and making other antisemitic remarks during the Jewish state’s ongoing war with Hamas terrorists.
House Democrats failed on Wednesday to block a final vote on the resolution, which was introduced as a privileged motion by Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) earlier this week, meaning it required consideration within 48 hours.
The resolution stated that Bowman “disrupted the work of the Congress as a vote was underway” and his actions were 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.”
“It’s painfully obvious to myself and my colleagues and the American people that the Republican Party is unserious and unable to legislate,” Bowman, 47, said on the House floor Wednesday. “In no way did I obstruct official proceedings.”
The “Squad” representative had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count the month before for falsely pulling the fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building on Sept. 30 and agreed to pay a $1,000 fine.
The agreement was struck between Bowman and DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb, allowing the congressman to see the charges dismissed after three months. He also agreed to write a personal apology letter to US Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger.
In a statement after the plea agreement was announced, Bowman thanked both the DC Attorney General’s Office and the United States Capitol Police General Counsel’s Office for having “agreed I did not obstruct nor intend to obstruct any House vote or proceedings.”
But a spokesperson for the US Capitol Police issued a statement disagreeing with the congressman.
“Our General Counsel did not, nor anyone in our Department, make that determination. We sent the thoroughly investigated case to the US Attorney’s Office and prosecutors there did not pursue it,” the spokesperson said.
The House had been deliberating a bill to extend government spending at current levels until Nov. 17 at the time of the false alarm.
Bowman said he “thought the alarm would open the door” and pulled it by “accident,” adding that he “was just trying to get to my vote and the door that’s usually open wasn’t open, it was closed.”
However, security camera footage shows Bowman pulling down two emergency exit signs from the doors before pulling the alarm — and then running away.
A Capitol Police investigator who looked into the incident said other security footage reveals the Democratic socialist “jogging” down a staircase after tripping the alarm and “walking at a normal pace” when exiting onto New Jersey Avenue.
Bowman later passed seven Capitol Police officers without telling them about his “accident,” which forced an evacuation of the building that lasted for an hour and a half, the investigator said.
The lawmaker is expected back in court on Jan. 29, 2024, to assess his compliance with the plea deal and consider dismissing the charge.
He is facing at least three primary challengers next year in New York’s 16th Congressional District, including Westchester County Executive George Latimer, finance executive Martin Dolan and Michael Gerald, a Baptist church pastor and former New Jersey state trooper.
Gerald had told The Post after the plea agreement was announced that the congressman’s actions in pulling the fire alarm were “the height of idiocy.”
“He heard, as we all did going to school, ‘Don’t pull the fire alarm,’” he said, noting Bowman must have “presided over a countless number of fire drills” as a former middle school principal.
Westchester County Executive George Latimer, a pro-Israel candidate, has also entered the race, releasing a primary campaign video the day before Bowman’s censure in which he rebuked the Democratic socialist for voting against a resolution condemning Hamas.
