Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-New York, set off a fire alarm in a Capitol office building on Saturday, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy demanded that he be punished, drawing comparisons to the rioters who attacked the facility on January 6.
McCarthy continued by saying that the Ethics Committee ought to take the activated fire alarm “seriously.”
Although Bowman’s staff agreed that he set off the alarm, they claimed it was an accident.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, the party’s leader, claimed he hadn’t yet watched the footage of the fire alarm being triggered.
According to a statement that did not specifically name Bowman, the U.S. Capitol Police are looking into the matter, and the House Administration Committee is also looking into it.
Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, a Republican from Wisconsin, signed the letter.
Republican Nicole Malliotakis, a fellow New York representative, also stated on X that she will draft a motion to oust Bowman from the House as a result of the event.
“This is the United States Congress, not a New York City high school. This action warrants expulsion & I’m introducing a resolution to do just that,” she wrote.
The Republicans were attempting to start a vote on a 45-day budget measure to keep the government open when the fire alarm went off in the Cannon office building, which is connected to the Capitol by an underground tunnel.
Democrats appeared to try to postpone the vote’s beginning, despite the fact that they had received very little prior notice. 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 whether his party would support the bill.
The vote finally started two and a half hours after it was supposed to. Democrats also supported the plan by a large margin.
