WASHINGTON – Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman said triggering a fire alarm Saturday in one of the most U.S. Capitol office constructions as lawmakers scrambled to pass a bill to fund the government ahead of the middle of the night shutdown cut-off date.
The fire alarm sounded out round midday in the Cannon House Office Building and caused a building-wide evacuation at a time when the House used to be in consultation and staffers have been running in the building. The building used to be reopened an hour later after Capitol Police made up our minds it used to be now not a risk.
The GOP-controlled House Administration Committee, which oversees problems bearing on the Capitol advanced, posted a image of a particular person pulling the fire alarm who looked to be Bowman.
The New York lawmaker informed newshounds hours later that it used to be a mistake and that he used to be dashing to get to votes and used to be seeking to get thru a door this is typically open, however used to be closed because of it being a weekend.
“I thought it would help me open the door,” he mentioned about pulling the cause, denying that it used to be an effort to stall anything else.
Capitol Police mentioned in a observation past due Saturday that an “investigation into what happened and why continues.”
At the time of the evacuation House Democrats have been running to prolong a vote on a 45-day funding bill to stay federal companies open. They mentioned they wanted time to study the 71-page bill that Republicans swiftly launched to keep away from a shutdown.
The funding package deal used to be in the long run licensed 335-91 on Saturday afternoon, with maximum Republicans and virtually all Democrats — together with Bowman — supporting the bill.
After the vote, Republicans, together with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, criticized Bowman over the fire alarm. Some lawmakers even floated the theory of drafting a movement to expel or censure him from the House.
“This should not go without punishment,” McCarthy informed newshounds. “This is an embarrassment.”
He added that he plans to talk with the Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York to figure out a possible response.
But Jeffries met with Bowman shortly after the vote and Bowman said his fellow New York colleague was “supportive.”
“He understood that it was a mistake and that’s all it was,” he said. Bowman added that the reaction from McCarthy and other Republicans is dishonest.
“(McCarthy’s) seeking to weaponize a mistake of me coming, dashing to get to a vote as one thing nefarious when it wasn’t,” he mentioned.
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Associated Press writers Mike Balsamo and Stephen Groves contributed to this file.