Jamaal Bowman latest Democrat to be censured following false fire alarm incident

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) became the latest Democratic lawmaker to be censured by the House, this one over accusations the Squad member intentionally disrupted congressional proceedings by pulling a fire alarm earlier this year.

Lawmakers voted 214-191 to censure Bowman on Thursday, making him the third Democrat this year to be publicly condemned by the House. The resolution passed along party lines, with only three Democrats voting to censure Bowman: Reps. Jahana Hayes (D-CT), Chris Pappas (D-NH), and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA).

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Another four Democrats voted “present” on the measure: Reps. Susan Wild (D-PA), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), Deborah Ross (D-NC), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), who are all on the Ethics Committee. One Republican voted “present”: Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD).

Shortly after the vote concluded, Bowman was directed to stand at the front of the House floor while Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) read aloud the charges against him. Aside from the public rebuke, no other disciplinary action is attached to the measure.

The censure is designed to punish Bowman for falsely pulling a fire alarm in a congressional office building on Sept. 30. Caught on security footage, Bowman claimed he yanked the alarm out of “confusion” when a door wouldn’t open in his rush to get to the House floor to vote.

Bowman was charged criminally and reached a plea deal, agreeing to pay a $1,000 fine, write an apology letter to the Capitol Police, and serve three months of probation.

“This is a felony, plain and simple,” said Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), who introduced the resolution. “It’s not difficult to understand. Capitol Police was forced to waste resources investigating rather than doing their job to keep the Capitol safe … Realizing no number of excuses could get him out of this, Mr. Bowman pled guilty.”

Bowman pushed back against the effort to censure him over the incident, denouncing the resolution as a distraction from “governing the American people.”

“In no way did I obstruct official proceedings. The vote took place, and Democrats avoided a government shutdown,” Bowman said. “This is an insult to the people I was elected to represent. Instead of passing meaningful legislation, some Republicans are using this to waste our time and money and to make you forget about all of the rights they want to destroy.”

Other Democrats decried the effort as well, accusing House Republicans of seeking to weaponize the historically rare form of punishment to undermine the credibility of the opposite party.

Censure resolutions have not been used frequently over the course of history, with only five members being censured in the last 40 years. Three of those have been in this year alone after the censures of Bowman as well as Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) earlier this year.

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The three resolutions mark the most censures to happen in the course of a year since 1870, when three other lawmakers were censured for selling military academy appointments.

Bowman’s conduct was previously referred to the nonpartisan Ethics Committee, which decided last month not to open an investigation into the matter.