Resolution to Censure Dem Rep. Bowman Moves Forward in the House

The lower chamber advanced a resolution to censure Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., on Wednesday, potentially setting up a final floor vote this week.

In a 201-216-1 vote, the House shot down a Democrat-led motion to kill the Republican measure condemning Bowman for pulling a fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building in September.

Bowman pulled the alarm while House Democrats were trying to delay a vote on a Republican continuing resolution to fund the government ahead of a midnight deadline.

While he has consistently said it was an accident, Bowman pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for the incident in September and now has to write an apology to Capitol Police and pay a $1,000 fine.

“I said, from the very beginning, I was not trying to disrupt any congressional proceedings. I’m glad that the investigation yielded that. And so, it was against D.C. law, and I got to take responsibility for it, which I’m here to do,” Bowman told reporters.

The Republican resolution was less sympathetic to Bowman’s side of the story.

“[T]he interruption of official proceedings of Congress by pulling a fire alarm was 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,” it read.

If the resolution passes, there will be no punishments on Bowman besides the ones he already faces in his misdemeanor.

The symbolic gesture would, however, make him the 26th U.S. representative ever censured and the third in the current Congress.

Lawmakers most recently censured Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., last month for her comments in the aftermath of the terrorist group Hamas’ deadly attack in southern Israel.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.