Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as the first woman to chair the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), today introduced the Fair Pay Act, which builds on her work enforcing the 1963 Equal Pay Act. The Fair Pay Act would help eliminate the gender wage gap by requiring men and women doing comparable work to be paid comparable wages and builds on the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by allowing women to prove that some or all of a wage disparity is based on gender-segregated comparable jobs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced a resolution to designate today, May 1, 2026, as “D.C. Statehood Day” and calling for statehood for the nation’s capital through enactment of her Washington, D.C. Admission Act.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After the House Committee on Appropriations yesterday marked up and passed the Financial Services and General Government (FSSG) bill, which includes the D.C. appropriations bill, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that although she was pleased no new riders were attached to the bill, she was still outraged at the number and scope of anti-home rule riders included in the base text that still remain in the bill. Republicans attempt to attach the riders to the annual D.C. spending bill to exert control over local D.C. matters, despite their positions as federal officials who do not represent D.C. residents.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced the Veterans Legal Support Act, which would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide funding to law school clinical programs that provide pro bono legal services to veterans, including assistance with disability claims and foreclosures. Currently, there are more than 20 law schools nationwide that have clinics focusing on the legal needs of veterans, including the William & Mary Law School Veterans Benefit Clinic, which was the first recipient of a “best practice” certification from the VA. Allowing the VA to provide funding to these clinics would allow other law schools, like the University of the District of Columbia’s David A. Clarke School of Law, to start their own VA-certified clinics.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Committee on Appropriations today released the text of its fiscal year 2027 (FY 27) Financial Services and General Government (FSSG) Appropriations bill, which Norton said includes an egregious number of anti-home rule riders. Republicans attempt to attach the riders to the annual D.C. spending bill to exert control over local D.C. matters, despite their positions as federal officials who do not represent D.C. residents.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced her resolution commemorating Emancipation Day, an official holiday in D.C., honoring the date in 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln freed 3,100 enslaved people in the District, nine months ahead of the Emancipation Proclamation. This year D.C. will observe the holiday one day after the filing deadline for federal taxes.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the federal tax filing season kicks off, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) issued a statement reminding the public that the District of Columbia pays more federal taxes per capita than any state and more federal taxes overall than 26 states, while being denied the same voting representation in Congress or full local self-government accorded to residents of the states. Norton said that the remedy is for Congress to pass her D.C. statehood bill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) reintroduced the Paul Laurence Dunbar Commemorative Coin Act to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue 50,000 five-dollar coins, 400,000 one-dollar coins and 750,000 half-dollar coins in honor of Paul Laurence Dunbar. The surcharge from each coin sold would benefit scholarships and other activities of the Dunbar Alumni Federation, the alumni association for Paul Laurence Dunbar Senior High School. Congresswoman Norton is a proud Dunbar Senior High School alumna.