Norton Announces Markup of Her Bill Requiring Commanding General of D.C. National Guard to Reside in D.C.
WASHINGTON, D.C. —Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced today that the Committee on Oversight and Reform will mark up her bill that would require the Commanding General of the District of Columbia National Guard, a federal official, to live in the District of Columbia. The markup will occur at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 2, 2022, and will be livestreamed on the committee's website.
"Thank you, Chairwoman Maloney, for scheduling this markup," Norton said. "D.C. has no control over its own National Guard, and this bill would help ensure the Guard's connection to the residents it serves and in-depth knowledge of the unique issues and challenges faced by D.C. residents."
Norton's markup statement, as prepared for delivery, follows.
Statement of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton
Committee on Oversight and Reform
Markup of H.R. 6361
District of Columbia National Guard Commanding General Residency Act
February 2, 2022
Chairwoman Maloney, thank you for marking up my bill today. This bill would require the Commanding General of the District of Columbia National Guard to reside in the District of Columbia. D.C. has no control over the D.C. National Guard. Instead, the president controls the D.C. National Guard, which many Americans first learned either during the January 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol, when the Trump administration delayed deploying the D.C. National Guard for several hours, or during the June 2020 attack by federal law enforcement on largely peaceful protestors outside the White House, where the D.C. National Guard was used by the Trump administration as part of the attack. In contrast, governors of the states and the three territories that have National Guards control their National Guards.
I have long introduced a bill, the D.C. National Guard Home Rule Act, which the chairwoman co-leads, that would give the D.C. mayor control over the D.C. National Guard. Last year, the House passed the D.C. National Guard Home Rule Act as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, but the D.C. National Guard Home Rule Act was stripped out of the final version of the NDAA because Republicans threatened to vote against the must-pass NDAA if the NDAA included the D.C. National Guard Home Rule Act.
The Commanding General of the D.C. National Guard is the top official in the D.C. Guard, is appointed by the president and is a federal employee. Residency requirements for government officials are found in federal law, D.C. law and the laws of jurisdictions throughout the country. In fact, several states have laws that require the top official in their National Guard to reside in their state, and it is highly likely that every state only appoints residents as the top official in their National Guard. The primary reason residency requirements exist is so that government officials have a connection to the residents they serve and in-depth knowledge of the unique issues and challenges faced by residents.
Congress has justifiably required that certain federal officials live in the jurisdiction to which they are appointed, including U.S. district court judges, U.S. Marshals and U.S. Attorneys. Similarly, Congress, which controls the local D.C. court system, has justifiably required local D.C. judges and members of the D.C. Judicial Nomination Commission and the D.C. Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure to live in D.C.
There is no reason that the Commanding General of the D.C. National Guard, a federal entity that serves only D.C. residents and that has both a military and law enforcement role, should not be required to live in D.C. The Commanding General needs to be part of the community the Commanding General serves. A D.C. residency requirement for the Commanding General of the D.C. National Guard will lead to a better relationship between the D.C. National Guard and D.C. residents and is a matter of fairness for D.C. residents.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
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