US congressman wanted to disrupt the vote with fire alarm
Congressman Jamaal Bowman (photo: facebook.com/JamaalBowmanNY)
Democratic Party representative Jamaal Bowman activated the fire alarm in the U.S. Capitol when his party was attempting to delay the vote on a temporary U.S. budget. His actions led to the evacuation of the congressional office building, according to Reuters.
Police released a photo showing Bowman activating the fire alarm near an exit of the office building, which houses congressional offices. Law enforcement has initiated an investigation into the incident.
In his statement, Bowman acknowledged that he activated the fire alarm, which he said he regrets. However, he denied doing it to delay the vote, as many Republicans claimed.
He mentioned that he approached the doors that are typically open for voting, but they were locked at the time and did not open.
"I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door. I regret this and sincerely apologize for any confusion this caused," said Bowman.
What were the deputies voting for
The fire alarm incident occurred when the House of Representatives was set to vote on a bipartisan bill aimed at avoiding a government shutdown. Eventually, the bill to extend U.S. government funding for 45 days was passed with nearly unanimous support from Democrats, but at that moment, Democrats were trying to buy time to review the bill.
Why is there a threat of a shutdown
The threat of a government shutdown was related to the position of far-right Republicans who were blocking the passage of budget bills for the next fiscal year, demanding cuts they deemed excessive.
They also opposed additional aid to Ukraine. Up until the last moment, the White House tried to include at least a compromise of $6 billion for Ukraine by mid-November, but the initiative failed to garner enough votes.
For more information on this topic, you can read the article by RBC-Ukraine.
