McCarthy Calls for Rep. Bowman’s Reprimand Following Fire Alarm Episode Before Vote

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., called for an investigation into progressive Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., who was questioned Saturday by the Capitol Police’s criminal investigation unit after he pulled a fire alarm in one of the House’s office buildings while lawmakers were scrambling to come to a vote to avert a government shutdown. 

“I think Ethics should look at this,” the speaker said during a press conference after the vote for a 45-day continuing resolution passed in the House, NBC News reported. “This is serious when you think of how people are treated when they wanted to come in and change the course of what was happening in this building.”

He noted Bowman’s action was caught on camera, and said he will be speaking with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., about the incident, as it “should not go without punishment.” 

“This is an embarrassment,” McCarthy said. “You’re elected to be a member of Congress. He pulled a fire alarm, hours before the government being shut down, trying to dictate the government would shut down. What’s going through a person’s mind like that?”

“Rep. Jamal Bowman pulled a fire alarm in Cannon this morning. An investigation into why it was pulled is underway,” Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said in a statement about the New York Democrat’s action. 

Sarah Iddrissu, Bowman’s chief of staff, commented on X that Bowman “did not realize he would trigger a building alarm as he was rushing to make an urgent vote. The Congressman regrets any confusion.”

The alarm sounded in the Cannon office building, which connects to the Capitol through an underground tunnel, while Republicans were trying to start the vote on the stopgap measure and while Democrats were trying to delay the vote, complaining the Republicans were trying to vote before they had time to read the bill.