A Republican lawmaker who introduced a resolution to expel Rep. Jamaal Bowman for pulling a fire alarm last weekend ahead of a vote on a stopgap spending bill says the Democrat’s story doesn’t add up.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, New York Republican, introduced legislation to expel Mr. Bowman on Monday. So far, the measure has 15 GOP co-sponsors, but Ms. Malliotakis did not say whether House leadership is considering it.
House Republicans have said that Mr. Bowman’s setting off the fire alarm was meant to delay and disrupt a key floor vote on the GOP’s stopgap spending bill, which ultimately passed.
Mr. Bowman admitted to pulling the fire alarm, but has characterized the incident as a mistake not meant to delay a floor vote on the bill that Speaker Kevin McCarthy had brought to the floor Saturday morning. He said he was trying to exit a door that wouldn’t open.
“I want to be very clear, this was not me, in any way, trying to delay any vote,” Mr. Bowman said. “It was the exact opposite — I was trying urgently to get to a vote, which I ultimately did.”
But Ms. Malliotakis questioned the timeline of events, saying that Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, Massachusetts Democrat, filed a procedural motion to adjourn the chamber just before noon, and a few minutes later, Mr. Bowman yanked the fire alarm.
SEE ALSO: House Republicans seek Jan. 6 treatment for Bowman over fire alarm
From there, House Democrats slowly voted against the motion that would have sent the chamber home, eating up time in what Republicans say was an effort to allow the Senate to pass its own version of the stopgap bill, which included $6 billion for Ukraine aid.
Ms. Malliotakis said it was not until an hour later that Mr. Bowman voted.
“So if he was in a rush to vote, why did it take him an hour to go do it?” Ms. Malliotakis said.
The House Administrative Committee has opened an investigation into the incident, while the U.S. Capitol Police have launched their own investigation into the “how and why” the fire alarm was pulled.
Under D.C. law, people convicted of knowingly or willfully giving a false alarm of fire can be hit with a fine and imprisonment of up to six months.
Meanwhile, other Republicans are demanding that Mr. Bowman receive the same harsh treatment as some people who were investigated for the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. In Mr. Bowman’s case, like some Jan. 6 defendants, he could be charged with disrupting an official proceeding of Congress.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden, Wisconsin Republican, joined the growing number of his GOP colleagues floating the idea that Mr. Bowman receive the Jan. 6 treatment.
“So if Mr. Bowman did exactly what those folks did, then he needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but I’m not going to presume his guilt,” Mr. Van Orden said.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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