Congressman Raises Fire Alarm Amid Funding Chaos: What We Know
According to Republicans in the House of Representatives, Representative Jamaal Bowman dissolved on Saturday at the Cannon Building in Washington DC
Congress moved to pass legislation to fund the federal government Saturday afternoon, ultimately passing a bipartisan short-term spending bill that will keep federal funding at current levels for 45 days, awaiting a vote in the Senate. The voting chaos follows weeks of fears that Congress might not be able to reach a deal by the end of September – and with less than 10 hours until the government shutdown.
Amid the chaos, a fire alarm went off in the Cannon Building, which houses congressional offices, said a statement from Rep. Bryan Steil, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House Administration Committee.
In his statement, Steil wrote that Bowman – a Democrat who represents New York’s 16th Congressional District, which includes parts of the Bronx and the northern suburbs of New York City – had raised the alarm but did not elaborate in the initial statement .
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“Rep Jamaal Bowman pulled a fire alarm in Cannon this morning. An investigation into why it was triggered is ongoing.” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
A spokesperson for the Capitol Police Department wrote in a statement Newsweek, “At 12:05pm today a fire alarm was activated on the second floor of the Cannon House office building. The building was evacuated while USCP officers checked the building. The building was reopened after it was determined there was no danger. “The investigation into what happened and why continues.”
Additionally, Bowman’s press secretary, Emma Simon, responded to the investigation in a statement Newsweek Saturday afternoon.
“Congressman Bowman didn’t know he was setting off a building alarm as he rushed to take an urgent vote. The Congressman regrets any confusion,” Simon wrote.
Bowman also told reporters that he believed the alarm would open the door, according to Axios journalist Juliegrace Brufke reported.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, posted a video on X showing the fire alarm inside the building.
According to Jake Sherman, co-founder of Punchbowl News, the Capitol Police also released an image that appears to show Bowman near the fire alarm.
“Capitol Police are circulating this photo of a man pulling the fire alarm in Cannon. It looks a lot like Jamaal Bowman,” he wrote.
Bowman’s tripping of the fire alarm sparked outrage among conservatives, who said that pulling the alarm amounted to the crime of disrupting official proceedings and that he should face consequences for it.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican from New York, drafted a resolution to have him expelled, while Rep. Lisa McClain, a Republican from Michigan, planned to introduce a resolution to censure him. reported Politico’s Olivia Beavers.
“This is the United States Congress, not a New York high school. Pulling the fire alarm to disrupt proceedings while we are trying to draft laws to AVOID A SHUTDOWN is pathetic… even for members of the socialist force,” Malliotakis said wrote on X.
Greene wrote in another post to X: “Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman pulled the fire alarm at the Cannon Building this afternoon, interrupting official House proceedings as Republicans worked to keep the government open. “I call on the DOJ to prosecute him under the same law they used to prosecute J6 defendants for interfering with an official proceeding.”
Additionally, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called the congressman’s actions a “new low.”
“We watched how people were treated when they did something wrong in this Capitol. It will be interesting to see how he was treated and what he tried to obstruct when it came to the American public,” he said in a press conference on Saturday afternoon.
