Norton to Host Emergency Town Hall to Highlight Disproportionate Impact of Trump Shutdown on D.C., Next Week

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) next week will host a town hall with federal employees, federal contract workers, and local District of Columbia businesses to highlight the deeply harmful impacts of the Trump shutdown on D.C. residents and the District's economy. Norton also encourages testimony from D.C. tenants and landlords who have been hurt by the shuttering of federal rental housing assistance programs; nonprofits, such as area food banks, that are providing increased social services to assist federal workers and contractors; and other D.C. residents whose families and neighbors have suffered during the Trump shutdown. The time and location are to be determined.

"In D.C., disproportionate to others districts, thousands of federal employees, federal contractors, small business owners and other residents are suffering as the Trump shutdown drags on," Norton said. "Federal employees and contractors have been left scrambling to pay their mortgage and put food on the table for their families. The same terrifying realty is true for the District's small businesses, such as our food trucks and restaurants, who do not know when their customers will return. This is an emergency for our residents and must be treated as such. Our town hall will provide us salient stories from those who have been directly impacted and highlight the real-life pain being inflicted by the President's refusal to reopen government."

Norton introduced a bill to guarantee back pay to low-wage federally contracted retail, food, custodial and security service workers not getting paid during the current federal government shutdown. She helped pass a bill signed by the President this week to provide back pay to federal employees who have been furloughed or forced to work without pay during this and any future shutdowns.

Norton is a cosponsor of several bills to provide relief to federal workers.

• The Immediate Financial Relief for Federal Employees Act would require the U.S. Treasury, at the request of the employee, to issue 0% interest loans to the 800,000 federal workers who have been impacted by the government shutdown.
• The Federal Employee Civil Relief Act would protect federal workers and their families from foreclosures, evictions, and loan defaults during a government shutdown.
• The Financial Relief for Feds Act would allow federal employees and contractors to withdraw funds from their retirement accounts without being penalized.