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Norton Releases Prepared Remarks for D.C. Statehood Press Conference

January 4, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released her prepared remarks from a press conference today with District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson on the introduction of H.R. 51, Norton's bill to make the District the 51st state. Norton yesterday introduced H.R. 51 with a record 155 original cosponsors. House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) has committed to holding a hearing and markup on H.R. 51 in 2019. Norton got a findings section supporting D.C. statehood included in the House Democrats' democracy reform legislation, H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2019.

Norton's full remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow.

STATEMENT FOR D.C. STATEHOOD PRESS CONFERENCE

January 4, 2019

Yesterday, as the 116th Congress began, I introduced as my first bill of the session H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, with a record 155 original cosponsors. That is already higher than the number of Democrats who voted for the statehood bill when I secured the first-ever House floor vote on the bill in 1993, and the highest number of original cosponsors of any other bill introduced either in the House or Senate on the first day of the 116th Congress.

I particularly want to highlight the kind of newfound momentum we find in the 116th Congress with our new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Before this press conference, Speaker Pelosi issued her own statement in support of D.C. statehood, which shows the kind of support we have coming from the top on down.

I want to welcome the District's shadow delegation, Senators Michael Brown and Paul Strauss and Representative Franklin Garcia, and to thank our local statehood coalition and organizations here today, who have tirelessly fought beside us to garner record support and momentum to make the District the 51st state.

I particularly appreciate that throughout my years in the minority in Congress—and I have been in the minority for most of my service—Mayor Bowser and Chairman Mendelson have dutifully come to the Congress to stand with me as I have introduced our D.C. statehood bill in consecutive Congresses controlled by Republicans.

Our elected officials and advocates have not only come here out of duty, however. They also come out of earned resentment.

Earned resentment at paying the highest federal taxes per capita in the United States, despite having no senators to represent them and no final vote on the House floor. Earned resentment at the endless congressional attempts to overturn local D.C. laws.

As we begin 2019 and the 116th Congress, we will see a big change. Democrats, who believe that democracy includes the capital of the United States, have taken control of the House of Representatives.

To make the most of this opportunity, we must proceed on two tracks.

First, in the Democratic-controlled House, we will seek a vote on H.R. 51. We have already received a commitment from Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) to hold a hearing and markup on H.R. 51 this year in the very hearing room in which we are meeting today, the same hearing room where Republican chairs just recently attempted to overturn local D.C. laws. How things have changed. We will make the moral and legal cases for statehood here in a hearing, we ultimately will pass the bill out of committee and we will press for a full House floor vote.

At the same time, however, we will proceed on an additional track, because we recognize that the Senate is still controlled by Republicans, and it takes 60 votes to pass legislation through the Senate.

Using our second track, we will get D.C. closer to statehood by perfecting the many outstanding sections of the Home Rule Act that can easily be passed in the House and Senate. By simply filling out and completing D.C. home rule, Congress can move the District toward greater equality with the 50 states.

This past Congress, I introduced 16 bills to expand and round out home rule for the District, such as granting D.C. legislative autonomy, which allows local D.C. bills to become take effect when passed by the Council, rather than being held for months for an unnecessary and seldom-used congressional review process; giving the District a local prosecutor; authorizing the mayor to deploy the D.C. National Guard for local matters, such as during hurricanes. These and other home-rule changes still leave Congress with the power to intervene until the District becomes a state, but they would allow D.C. to proceed on important matters while discouraging attempts to turn back the clock.

Whether on the direct track to statehood we embark upon today with H.R. 51, or with a more gradual process to fill out full home rule, the residents who live in the nation's capital are determined to be recognized and to be treated as full and equal citizens. That is their birth right. The bills we pursue today will inevitably take us to equal citizenship.