NY congressman Jamaal Bowman set to face a censure vote over fire alarm pull 

A Democrat-led effort to kill a resolution seeking to censure Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) failed Wednesday, setting up a final vote on whether to reprimand the “Squad” lawmaker for raising a false fire alarm. 

Bowman could face the censure vote as early as Thursday after a motion to table Rep. Lisa McCalin’s (R-Mich.) privileged resolution was defeated in a 201-216-1 party-line vote.

“It’s painfully obvious to myself and my colleagues and the American people that the Republican Party is unserious and unable to legislate,” Bowman said on the House floor Wednesday. “In no way did I obstruct official proceedings.” 

The censure effort stems from a Sept. 30 incident where Bowman, in an effort to stall a vote on a measure that would keep the government from shutting down, according to Republicans, pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building, triggering an evacuation. 

Bowman, 47, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for the fake fire alarm pull and agreed to write an apology to Capitol Police and pay a $1,000 fine. 

The House Ethics Committee opted against opening an investigation into Bowman’s conduct last month. 

The congressman claims he pulled the fire alarm by accident, thinking that the lever would “open the door” he was trying to get through at the time.

McCalin’s resolution, introduced Tuesday, requires congressional action within two legislative days. 

It charges that Bowman “disrupted the work of the Congress as a vote was underway” and that his actions were a “theatrical attempt to cause panic, therefore endangering the safety and well-being of Members of the House, of staff, and members of the public on the Capitol grounds.”

Bowman would become only the 27th lawmaker in the history of the House of Representatives to be censured if the resolution passes, as is expected based on Wednesday’s vote. 

If censured, Bowman would have to stand in the well of the lower chamber and listen to a reading of the resolution reprimanding him. 

In November, the House voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for defending Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack against Israel and calling for the eradication of the Jewish state.