On Saturday Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) tore down two “emergency use only” signs on a second floor door in the Cannon House Office Building then pulled the fire alarm before running out through a different door. He did this as the House was holding open a motion from the Democrats to adjourn vote on funding packages. A Capitol source said, “At no point did he say to anyone ‘sorry this is a mistake’ or ‘sorry I pulled the fire alarm by mistake’…. He didn’t say anything to anyone until he was confronted by Capitol Police later.” Bowman told reporters, “I thought the alarm would open the door.” However, Bowman, who has been in Congress for almost three years and would be familiar with the emergency doors, appears to have pulled the fire alarm in an effort to buy the Democrats more time since the motion to adjourn vote had failed earlier.
