Norton Will Reach Out to New Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released the following statement following the election of Congressman Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) as Speaker of the House.

"I will reach out and look forward to working with our new speaker, Paul Ryan. Paul is a friend who I have worked with in the past. I first got to know him from his relationship with my good friend, the late Representative and former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp (R-NY), who was Paul's mentor. I see Jack Kemp's continuing influence on Paul in his outspoken leadership on a Republican approach to poverty, a subject that other Republicans often neglect.

"Paul Ryan's voting record on District of Columbia matters in recent years has not been unlike others in his caucus. However, I believe Paul understands the importance of local self-government, and I do not think he is unreceptive to our demands for home rule. However, he has not been tested on the degree to which he would respect the District's right to self-government.

"I was encouraged by Paul's candor that the House is ‘broken,' is in ‘chaos,' and is not ‘solving problems,' only ‘adding to them.' We believe the House's acrimony about home rule is part of that chaos. The Republican Senate has mostly avoided acrimony about home rule by not interfering with D.C.'s home-rule preferences, such as its recent funding for DCTAG and clean D.C. appropriations bill. I will seek the same from Speaker Ryan."