Republicans in the House of Representatives have led the vote to censure Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York for triggering a fire alarm in September in a U.S. Capitol office building.
The Bronx politician pleaded guilty to one local criminal charge of causing a false alarm for the incident. He says he was rushing to cast his vote to stop the government from shutting down when he pulled the alarm, hoping to get out of a door in the federal building, and has now received a political smack on the wrist for the rash act.
“Representative Bowman forced the evacuation of the Cannon House Office Building and disrupted the work of the Congress as a vote was underway on the floor of the House,” said the resolution introduced by GOP Conference Secretary Lisa McClain of Michigan, according to Axios.
McClain took to social media and wrote in part, “Nobody is above the law, Congressmen included.”
Today, I introduced a PRIVILEGED RESOLUTION to censure Representative Bowman for knowingly causing a false alarm of a fire while the House worked to avert a government shutdown.
Nobody is above the law, Congressmen included. pic.twitter.com/nMfgOq8uxv
— Representative Lisa McClain (@RepLisaMcClain) December 5, 2023
Censure is a punitive measure just short of expulsion from the House, underscoring the gravity of the incident. The vote on Thursday, Dec. 7, was 214-191 in favor of the discipline of the elected official.
Only a handful of Democrats supported the Republican-led rebuke, including Reps. Jahana Hayes of Connecticut, New Hampshire’s Chris Pappas, and Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez of Washington.
The party of the president deemed the resolution malicious and lacking integrity, characterizing it as a process continually weaponized by the GOP.
“All they do is vacate the chair, expulsions, censures, reprimands, impeachments. There is no positive agenda for America,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).
Since 1789, Congress has…
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