Lawmakers voted to censure Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D–NY) today for pulling a fire alarm in September — an act for which he already apologized, paid a fine, and said was an accident. And while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the censure “fake, fraudulent, and fictitious,” Marjorie Taylor Greene gave a lecture before the vote about civility, suggesting Bowman should be jailed. This, in turn, earned her a well-deserved tongue-lashing by Rep. Jim McGovern (MA).
“It is really rich to get a lecture from someone about civility who stood on this House floor and screamed and interrupted the president of the United States during his State of the Union,” the Democratic Congressman said. “Or somebody who continues to circle the wagons and cheer on the insurrectionists who attacked this Capitol violently on Jan. 6.”
“I was the last person off the House floor on that day and I saw what happened,” he continued. “And for people to come down here and defend those actions — it is pathetic and disgusting.” (See video below, posted by Acyn.)
From The Hill:
Censuring lawmakers in the House is a largely symbolic act: The reprimand does not carry any repercussions other than having to stand in the well and listen to a reading of the resolution. It does, however, carry the stigma that a lawmaker has acted in a manner that was unbecoming of Congress, as determined by colleagues.
Once a rarity in the House, censuring has become more frequent amid an boost in polarization in Washington. Bowman is the 27th lawmaker to be censured in history and the third to acquire the rebuke this year, following Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff (Calif.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.).
Democrats — including the top three liberals in the caucus — lined up to denounce the censure push during floor debate Wednesday. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) slammed the effort as “fake, fraudulent and fictitious.”
“We’re on the House floor, wasting time talking about fire alarms. Not the economy, not inflation, not affordable housing, not lowering costs, not the gun violence epidemic that continues to claim the lives of our young people all across America,” Jeffries said. “Extreme MAGA Republicans have us on the House floor talking about fire alarms. How silly is that under these circumstances?”
He also denounced the trend of GOP lawmakers censuring Democrats, arguing that the string of reprimands “has brought disgrace to the institution.”
