Raising A Question of the Privileges of the House

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. GREENE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, September 30, 2023, the House of Representatives was considering a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown. Minutes after the Democratic whip made a motion to adjourn, Jamaal Bowman decided to pull a fire alarm. He pulled that fire alarm intentionally and willfully, and he knew exactly what he was doing.

This happened in the Cannon House Office Building, where my office is located. I happened to have been in my office when he pulled the fire alarm. This caused the Cannon House Office Building to be evacuated, and my staff and I could not return to our office for several hours.

Once the fire alarm was pulled, the elevators shut down. It made it very difficult for everyone to leave the building, especially if they were handicapped. People had to go down the stairs in order to exit as the fire alarm was blaring. Not only that, all the staff had to leave. They were not allowed to reenter for a very long time.

Capitol Police were scrambling, trying to figure out what had happened, if there was a fire, and if there was a threat to our safety and security. They had to go into an investigation immediately in order to understand why the fire alarm was going.

Jamaal Bowman did not tell the Capitol Police that he pulled the fire alarm even though he admitted himself that, when he makes a mistake, he would tell his own students: If you have made a mistake, own up to it and take accountability.

Jamaal Bowman had plenty of opportunity to admit his mistake and take accountability for his own actions. He should have told Capitol Police immediately that he made a mistake, as he claimed.

It wasn't a mistake, Mr. Speaker. It was on purpose. It was intentional. It was all in part to play the games and the shenanigans that the Democrats were pulling that day as they were trying to block the continuing resolution that was being considered on the House floor.

Remember, Mr. Speaker, the fire alarm was pulled minutes after the Democratic whip made a motion to adjourn.

More importantly, he was intentionally playing his part to obstruct an official proceeding.

By the way, this is the same thing that has been used against January 6 defendants and is still being used to this day. They are being locked up, held in pretrial detention, and being prosecuted by the Department of Justice nearly 3 years later for obstructing an official proceeding, which is exactly what Jamaal Bowman, a Member of Congress, did on September 30.

We have a two-tiered justice system in Washington, D.C. Regular people walked into the Capitol. By the way, many nonviolent offenders walked in open doors. Some of them who also were standing out on the lawn and never entered the Capitol are being charged for obstructing an official proceeding.

Yet, Jamaal Bowman says that it was a mistake and that he should get a pass. His colleagues make excuses for him and call us unserious.

Do you know what is unserious, Mr. Speaker? Having a justice system that doesn't hold everyone accountable and doesn't treat people the same way.

This is an outrage, and this is a disgrace to this institution and this body.

For someone who is a former principal and who punished his own students for intentionally pulling fire alarms to make up petty excuses and think that his own constituents and the American people will buy his lie is a slap in the face to his voters, the people whom he represents, this entire country, and every single one of us who serves in this body.

I would also add that if anyone is going to be charged and forced to remain in jail, forced to be serving prison time for obstructing an official proceeding, then Jamaal Bowman should face the exact same fate of every single January 6 defendant.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this censure resolution, and I thank Representative McClain for introducing it.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source