Norton Says Biden American Jobs Plan to Jumpstart SW Ecodistrict Plan

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said today that President Biden's historic infrastructure bill, the American Jobs Plan, should be considered to jumpstart the National Capital Planning Commission's SW Ecodistrict Plan, which would turn 110 acres between the National Mall and the Southwest Waterfront into a mixed-use neighborhood. The American Jobs Plan would provide billions of dollars to upgrade federal buildings, and Norton will use her senior role on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I), which has jurisdiction over federal buildings, to look at the possible redevelopment of the Department of Energy (DOE) headquarters into a mixed-use complex to jumpstart the SW Ecodistrict Plan.

"President Biden's American Jobs Plan, together with the Smithsonian's need for space for the recently authorized women's history and Latino museums, offers the opportunity to create a new D.C. neighborhood and to connect the National Mall with the Southwest Waterfront," Norton said.

In 2016, the House passed a Norton provision as part of a larger public buildings reform bill that would have required the General Services Administration to sell or exchange DOE's Forrestal Complex, at 1000 Independence Avenue SW, and to use the funds to construct a new DOE headquarters in accordance with the SW Ecodistrict Plan. The Senate did not pass the bill.

Norton has previously used her position on T&I to transform the Southeast and Southwest waterfronts and NoMa. Norton legislation enabled The Yards and the Wharf developments.