Rep. Jamaal Bowman Triggers House Fire Alarm During Vote To Keep Government Operating

On Saturday, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-New York) triggered a fire alarm in the House Cannon office building, which Republicans believe was an effort to delay a vote on a stopgap spending bill.

House Democrats were attempting to stall a vote on a spending measure to keep the government operating for another 45 days. Bowman pulled the alarm just minutes after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) introduced the bill. The legislation eventually passed 335 to 91, with more Democrats in favor than Republicans.

In a statement released on Saturday night, Bowman, a former high school principal, claimed that he did not pull the alarm to delay the vote, but that it was triggered as he was rushing into the Capitol.

“I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door,” he explained. “I regret this and sincerely apologize for any confusion this caused. But I want to be very clear: this was not me, in any way, trying to delay any vote. It was the exact opposite — I was trying urgently to get to a vote.”

House Republicans are still not convinced that the alarm was pulled by accident. According to her office, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-New York) has drafted a motion to expel Bowman.

“This is the United States Congress, not a New York City high school,” Malliotakis wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “To pull the fire alarm to disrupt proceedings when we are trying to draft legislation to AVERT A SHUTDOWN is pathetic… even for members of the socialist squad.”