Norton Wins Respect for the D.C. Flag, Service Members, Veterans, and Home Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) is close to victory in her fight for respect for the D.C. flag and residents who sacrifice for our country. Late yesterday, the conference committee on the fiscal year 2013 Defense Authorization bill agreed to the House-passed provision requiring the armed services to display the D.C. and territorial flags whenever the flags of the 50 states are displayed. The conference report is expected to be approved by both chambers this week.

In a home-rule win for the District, the conference committee also rejected the House-passed provision, introduced by Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), expressing the sense of Congress that active duty military personnel in the District should be exempt from the gun laws in D.C., but not those of any other state or local jurisdiction, singling out the District.

Norton thanked Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and others on the conference committee for pitching in to see that the flag provision was included in the final bill. She also thanked House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA) for agreeing on the House floor to Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan's (D-MP) flag amendment. Norton spoke with Senator Levin and officials at the highest levels of the White House during conference negotiations about the flag provision, and said the support of President Obama was critical.

"We should never have had to fight for equal respect for the D.C. flag," Norton said, "but we had to do it for our active duty service members, such as Seaman Jonathan Rucker, whose mother, Tomi Rucker, first brought this disrespect to our attention, and for our veterans, several of whom went to tell Senators Levin and John McCain (R-AZ) about their feelings when the D.C. flag was left out of Welcome-Home and other military ceremonies. The disappointment and humiliation they felt when the D.C. flag was not displayed along with state flags at military ceremonies will now be gone forever."

Although the gun provision was non-binding, Norton fought the attack on D.C.'s rights. "This non-binding gun provision could have paved the way for actual inroads into the District's gun safety laws, which some have been seeking," said Norton. The gun provision was the third attack this Congress on D.C.'s gun safety laws. In November 2011, Norton scored a victory when the House Judiciary Committee defeated an amendment that would have allowed out-of-state residents with state-issued concealed carry permits to carry concealed guns in the District. Most important, although a federal district court and a federal appeals court had upheld the constitutionality of the District's post-Heller gun laws, a National Rifle Association-backed bill (H.R. 645) eliminating D.C.'s gun safety laws made it necessary to pull the D.C. House Voting Rights Act from the House floor last Congress. The NRA-backed bill has been reintroduced this Congress with 174 cosponsors.

Published: December 19, 2012