McCarthy links Rep. Bowman’s triggering of the fire alarm to his actions on January 6 in the inquiry of her.
In Washington Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-New York, set off a fire alarm at a Capitol office building on Saturday, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy demanded that he be punished, drawing comparisons to the rioters who stormed the facility on January 6.
When you consider how other people were handled when they entered the premises and attempted to alter the course of events, McCarthy said.
McCarthy continued by saying that the Ethics Committee need to take the activated fire alarm “seriously.”
McCarthy said, “This should not go unpunished.” “I’m going to discuss it with the head of the Democratic Party. But this conduct shouldn’t be tolerated. What a shame.
Later, Bowman issued a statement claiming that it was inadvertent.
“Today, as I was rushing to make a vote, I came to a door that is usually open for votes, but today would not open,” he claimed Saturday night. I regrettably thought the fire alarm would unlock the door, so I accidentally set it off. I regret this and genuinely apologize if this caused any misunderstanding.
But I want to be very clear that I was not attempting to stall any votes in any manner. The contrary was true; I was frantically trying to get to a vote, which I eventually achieved, and I joined my colleagues in a bipartisan effort to keep our government open, he said.
Officers were given a screen grab from surveillance footage so they could track down the individual who raised the alarm, a person with knowledge of the situation.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, the party’s leader, claimed he hadn’t yet watched the footage of the fire alarm being triggered.
I don’t have any further comment until I watch the film, he said in response to a question.
Republican from Wisconsin and committee chairman Bryan Steil signed the letter.
A fellow Republican lawmaker from New York, Nicole Malliotakis, said on X that she would submit a motion to remove Bowman from the House as a result of the incident. “This is the United States Congress, not a high school in New York City. Since this behavior calls for expulsion, I’ve submitted a resolution to do just that, the student continued.
The Republicans were attempting to start a vote on a 45-day budget plan to keep the government running when the fire alarm went off in the Cannon office building, which is connected to the Capitol by an underground tunnel.
The Cannon House Office Building’s second floor saw a fire alarm activation today at 12:05 p.m., according to a Capitol Police spokeswoman. “USCP personnel searched the structure as the building was evacuated. After it was established that there was no threat, the building was reopened. What transpired and why it occurred are still under investigation.
Democrats seemed to want to postpone the vote’s beginning, despite the fact that they had received very little prior warning. Republicans were attempting to vote before Democrats had a chance to study the text, which angered many.
Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries spoke for 52 minutes in an apparent effort to allow his colleagues and staff time to decide if his party would support the bill.
The voting finally started two and a half hours after it was supposed to. Democrats also supported the plan by a large margin.