Norton Celebrates House Passage of D.C. Statue Bill

Norton Celebrates House Passage of D.C. Statue Bill

December 15, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) celebrated tonight as the House approved, by voice vote, her bill to grant D.C. and the territories each one statue in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. The bipartisan bill passed by the House tonight was first offered in committee by Ranking Member Dan Lungren (R-CA), who spoke eloquently in support of the bill on the House floor tonight, noting how important statues were to his constituents. All the members who spoke on the bill strongly supported it. "I am grateful to Ranking Member Lungren for offering his companion bill to my own statue bill and for his strong support for this bill," Norton said. "The unanimous support the statue bill received during our floor debate, passing without opposition, gives us momentum as the bill moves to the Senate."

Norton, seeing no way to get two statues for the taxpaying residents of the District of Columbia approved by both houses of Congress in the foreseeable future, decided to move a bill for one statue for the city, as Ranking Member Lungren had proposed. She said that she did so because there had been such strong desire by residents for statues that the city commissioned and now has ready statues to move into the Capitol. Several years ago, in anticipation of passage of Norton's two-statue bill, D.C. chose and created statues of Frederick Douglass and Pierre L'Enfant, both D.C. residents known for their contributions to the city as well as the nation. The District will have the option to select Douglass, L'Enfant or any other deceased District resident when the bill passes.