GOP advances Bowman censure resolution, teeing up final vote

House Republicans on Wednesday advanced a resolution to censure Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), teeing up a final vote on reprimanding the New York Democrat for falsely pulling a fire alarm in a House office building in September.

The chamber defeated a Democratic-led motion to kill the legislation in an 201-216-1 vote, a sign that the legislation will pass when it hits the floor for a final vote.

The push to censure Bowman began after the congressman on Sept. 30 — during a high-profile vote to avert a government shutdown hours before the deadline — falsely pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building, prompting an evacuation. 

The congressman in October was charged with a misdemeanor for the incident and pleaded guilty one day after. He has to write an apology to the Capitol Police and pay a $1,000 fine, per an agreement with prosecutors.

Bowman has consistently said that he pulled the fire alarm by mistake. In a statement the day of the incident, he said he pulled the fire alarm “mistakenly thinking it would open the door” he was trying to exit the building from.

“What I did was against D.C. law,” Bowman told reporters before entering the courthouse, where he pleaded guilty. 

“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,” he added.

Republicans, however, accused Bowman of triggering the alarm in an effort to delay the government funding vote — a charge the New York lawmaker denies. Democrats had deployed a number of stall tactics before that vote to  buy time to read the 71-page bill, which had been rolled out earlier that day. 

“[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,” the resolution reads.

Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), the secretary of the GOP conference, moved to force a vote on the censure resolution this week. Only 26 lawmakers have been censured from the House in history, two of whom received the reprimand this year.

Censuring members is a largely symbolic move: other than having to stand in the well and listen to a reading of the censure resolution, the reprimand does not include any subsequent punishments. But it does carry the stigma that a lawmaker has acted in a manner that was unbecoming of Congress, as determined by colleagues.

Censuring members was once a rarity in the House, but the act has become more frequent in recent years as polarization in Congress increases and lawmakers heighten their attacks against one another.

Most recently, in November, the House voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for her criticisms of Israel after Hamas’ attack on the U.S. ally on Oct. 7.