WASHINGTON — Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy known as for Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., to be punished after he pulled a fireplace alarm in a Capitol workplace constructing on Saturday, evaluating him to the Jan. 6 rioters who attacked the constructing.
“When you consider how different persons are handled after they are available in and need to change the course of what was occurring within the constructing,” McCarthy mentioned.
McCarthy went on to say that the Ethics Fee ought to take the recalled hearth alarm “critically.”
“This could not go unpunished,” McCarthy mentioned. “I’ll have a dialogue with the Democratic chief about this. However this could not go unpunished. “That is embarrassing.”
Bowman’s workplace acknowledged that he raised the alarm, however indicated that it was unintentional.
“Congressman Bowman didn’t notice he would set off an alarm within the constructing as he rushed to carry an pressing vote,” the spokesperson mentioned in a press release. “The Congressman regrets any confusion.”
The Home Administration Committee is already investigating.
“Rep. Jamaal Bowman set off the Canon hearth alarm this morning,” a Republican-controlled account on the committee wrote on X, the location previously often called Twitter, together with incorrectly misspelling the congressman’s first title. “The explanation for its withdrawal is being investigated.”
The place was signed by Committee Chairman Brian Steele, a Republican from Wisconsin.
US Capitol Police didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
A fireplace alarm went off within the Cannon Workplace Constructing, which is related to the Capitol by way of an underground tunnel, as Republicans had been attempting to start voting on a 45-day spending measure to maintain the federal government open.
Democrats look like attempting to delay the beginning of voting, which they’ve acquired little discover of. Many complained that Republicans had been attempting to vote earlier than Democrats had time to learn the invoice.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic chief, gave a 52-minute speech in what was seen as an try to offer fellow members and workers time to see if his celebration would help the invoice.
Finally, voting started two and a half hours after the scheduled begin. Democrats voted overwhelmingly in favor of the invoice.