February 6, 2006: NORTON PRAISES PRESIDENT'S D.C. BUDGET

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2006

NORTON PRAISES PRESIDENT’S D.C. BUDGET
BUT SAYS SHE WILL SEEK FORENSICS LAB MONEY FROM CONGRESS
URGENTLY NEEDED FOR CRIME REDUCTION

Washington, DC--Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that she was pleased that the President’s budget touches almost all of the most important pending bases for the District and particularly pleased about the substantial increase over last year ($143 million compared to $103 million last year), marking the greatest amount in Bush’s five years. Last year, Norton recommended to the District that it stop using a long wish list and focus on what was vital. The city did so, but this budget also shows “a gratifying marked increase.”

Norton said that the $20 million recommended to upgrade the Navy Yard Metro station is “critical in light of her Southeast Federal Center legislation, with construction now underway; the 7,000 employees coming to the new Department of Transportation headquarters near the proposed baseball stadium; and thousands more federal workers to be added to the Naval Sea Systems Command at the Navy Yard.” Because of the massive federal construction with many federal employees coming to the area, Norton said that she believes she could have gotten our funding through the Congress (she is a senior member of the Transportation Committee), but it would not have come until the end of this fiscal year, much too late to give the District what it needs to show now in light of the baseball stadium negotiations still underway.

The $30 million for improvements to the city’s library system gives the District “a critical head start it will need at a
time when it has had to focus first and foremost on improving schools,” Norton said.

The Congresswoman said that she is relieved that the Tuition Assistance Grant Program (DC TAG), which has increased college attendance for D.C. students by one-third, has received $35 million. “The administration is aware that we are working with the District on making considerable savings to the program that will tighten this vital assistance,” but this has become necessary, Norton said, especially considering the 50% increase she was able to get two years ago for TAG.

Norton said, “My chief regret is that the President’s budget does not include funding for a forensics laboratory. I am in discussions with the U.S. Attorney and the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice about federal money because I do not believe we can take another serious bite out of our crime rate without this vital tool for solving and lowering crime.” Norton has other “good ideas” for getting the forensics lab funds.