Norton's Aggressive Agenda Won Dividends for the DC Economy, Home Rule, & Voting Rights
NORTON'S AGGRESSIVE AGENDA WON DIVIDENDS FOR THE D.C. ECONOMY, HOME RULE, AND VOTING RIGHTS DURING DEMOCRATIC CONTROL
Fight Is On to Retain Gains Alongside Plans to Move Some Bills in the Republican Controlled Congress
December 27, 2010
INTRODUCTION: YEARS OF PROGRESS, STRUGGLES AHEAD
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has spent most of her tenure in Congress in the minority, made maximum use of the last four years of Democratic control to accomplish significant breakthroughs for the city. However, with the release of new House Rules to eliminate the District's Committee of the Whole floor vote in the next Congress, she is already fighting to keep what she won. Nevertheless, Norton's advantage as a subcommittee chair and a senior Democrat became invaluable in bolstering the District's economy during the first two years of the Obama administration. She secured record amounts of federal funds, spread over most city agencies, achieved the first stream of jobs and small business contracts for D.C. residents at the largest economic development project in the city's history, and got the first indoor intercity bus service at Union Station. Concerned about the continuing effects of the recession in the District, Norton pulled her D.C.-only $5,000 homebuyer and business tax credits out of the lame-duck Congress, and in its closing hours also got her bill passed to save residents and businesses from an increase in water fees by reversing the federal government's refusal to pay as the city's biggest property owner, to control stormwater runoff from its sites. Norton got significant benefits for the city the first time Republicans took control of the House, including the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grants and the D.C.-only tax credits she just got renewed. The incoming Republicans who will control the House will probably make it more difficult to secure new economic resources for the city. However, the large economic development projects Norton has secured will ensure a continuous flow of jobs, and small business opportunities that will boost D.C.'s economy for almost a decade.
The Congresswoman took advantage of Democratic majorities in the House and Senate to make the D.C. House Voting Rights Act the overriding D.C. issue in the 111th Congress. By a sizable majority, the Senate passed her the bill this Congress, as the House did in the 110th. However, as Norton prepared to take the bill to the House floor, the gun lobby insisted on a new and more dangerous gun amendment that Norton could not accept, and Senate Republicans required an unrelated change that House Democrats could not accept -- a perfect storm that ensured the bill would not pass in any case. Norton proceeded to quickly direct her attention to protecting the city's gun laws after the gun amendment was introduced in separate bills in the House and Senate. She succeeded in keeping any amendment or bill that would gut the District's gun safety laws from enactment, but she may encounter greater difficulty repeating that success in the 112th Congress. She intends to work closely with the Senate, which Democrats still control, and the President to protect the District from Republican interference with the city's right to govern itself, free from congressional interference.
More Power to the District
Norton got Congress to pass a D.C. appropriations bill without anti-home rule riders attached for the first time in history during the 111th Congress. This year, she kept a prohibition on the use of local funds for the District's life-saving needle exchange program from being re-imposed, but she is gearing up for a likely attempt to keep the city from using its own funds not only for needle exchange, but also for medical marijuana, abortions for low-income women, and gay marriage.
Norton used the senatorial courtesy from President Obama granted to her to give residents a say in selecting their most important federal law enforcement officials. The President has honored Norton's choices for U.S. Attorney, U.S. district court judges, U.S. Parole Commission Chair, and U.S. Marshals -- all were vetted by her Law Enforcement Nominating Commission, made up of D.C. residents from every ward.
More Revenue and Land for the District
Norton's role as a subcommittee chair became particularly visible in the city this year when she got a prefabricated Opportunities Center built at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters construction site on the Ward 8 St. Elizabeths campus to provide easy access for residents to jobs and small business opportunities. The DHS headquarters construction, the largest economic development project in the nation today, is still in the start-up period but is meeting the outreach goals set for jobs and small business opportunities for D.C. residents.
Norton got stimulus funds not only for the development of the new DHS headquarters, but also for 15 major projects to renovate federal buildings here, which also are in the start-up phase. Separately, she got more stimulus funds for the District government than seven states received, which continue to be spent for city functions and infrastructure.
The new Yards Park, along the Anacostia River near Nationals Park, was built on federal land that a Norton bill converted to benefit the District. In addition, the District met the conditions in Norton's 2006 land transfer bill to get the deed to Hill East, which will be a mixed-use development on the expansive grounds of the old D.C. General Hospital. She got the National Park Service to transfer land at Fort Dupont for a new baseball academy and to approve a federal tax credit necessary to begin work to convert the Old Naval Hospital in Capitol Hill to a community center. Norton's subcommittee hearings ensured federal funding to the District for last winter's record snowstorm.
As the healthcare bill was developing, Norton devoted much of her attention to ensuring that the $50 million D.C. now spends on healthcare for those who do not qualify for Medicaid would be transferred from local taxpayers to the federal government.
More Environmental Protection for the District
Norton's environmental priorities bore fruit on land and in water this year. She got federal funds to protect homes in Southwest homes and businesses downtown from flooding. The regional congressional delegation led a celebration of the rollout of the 10-year plan to restore the Anacostia River, required by Norton's legislation, the Anacostia Watershed Initiative Act. Kingman and Heritage Islands, which Norton got transferred to the city for recreation and environmental education, will also help protect the River.
More Action On Other Fronts
Norton made progress in a variety of areas important to the city, among them congressional passage of the first bill naming a federal building in the nation's capital for an African American woman, Dr. Dorothy I. Height; the first relocation to the District of some of the D.C. Code felons scattered throughout the country in Federal Bureau of Prison facilities; and leadership on Metro during a period of the greatest crisis in its history.
112th Congress Goals
Republican control of the House will delay passage of Norton's "Free and Equal D.C." series of bills to increase the city's independence from Congress, but she will introduce the entire series to keep before Congress her determination to enact them and to encourage residents and D.C. officials to maintain the momentum achieved during the past four years. She will work with the Senate Democrats and the President to keep the Republican House from eliminating what she won for the District these last four years.
Despite Republican controlling the House, the Congresswoman believes she can get some bills enacted in the 112th Congress. Among them are bills to make the District an international financial center as a special tax jurisdiction for catastrophic reserve funds that now go to tax-free foreign countries, beginning Home Rule Act charter reform with transfer to District government the right to make some charter changes involving the city's structure and processes that now must come to Congress, and permanently reauthorizing the U.S. Parole Commission, which has jurisdiction over D.C. residents returning from prison.
The following report describes other Norton initiatives and offers details on the topics highlighted in this introduction.
NORTON FOCUS ON THE D.C. ECONOMY BRINGS CRITICAL REVENUE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DURING THE RECESSION
Jobs, Homes, and Tax Incentives for Residents and Businesses as Norton Squeezes Her D.C.-Only Tax Credits Out of Lame Duck Congress
In the last days of the lame-duck Congress, Norton got her unique D.C. tax incentives in the tax relief and unemployment package. Her popular $5,000 homebuyer tax credit and many business tax incentives, including a $3,000 wage credit for each D.C. resident hired or already employed by many D.C. businesses, will be retroactive for 2010 and continue through 2011. Norton expects the tax incentives to help lift the D.C. economy because residents who purchased homes this year, or buy next year, will find that home prices are lower than usual. The wage credit not only helps businesses by offering them a break if they hire or retain D.C. residents, but also offers a financial incentive to hire local residents.
Last Minute Passage of Norton Bill Thwarts Water Bill Increase, Feds Refusal to Pay
As one of its last order of business, Congress passed Norton's anti-pollution stormwater runoff bill to require the federal government to pay fees for the management of stormwater runoff from federal properties, the same fees the federal government requires the D.C. government and residents to pay for their properties. Her bill overturns a Government Accountability Office decision that federal agencies are exempt from the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority's Impervious Area Charge, which exists to protect local waterways, like the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, from runoff from surface areas such as roofs, parking lots, and sidewalks. The Norton bill draws on precedent that requires the federal government to pay for utilities, like other users; otherwise, the runoff costs would have been passed onto D.C. residents. Norton, the primary sponsor of the first Anacostia River Clean Up and Protection bill, supports the impervious area charge but refused to allow the federal government to call a fee a tax in order to exempt itself from payment. Because almost a quarter of the land in the District is federally owned, the exemption would have been costly for residents.
Norton's Role as Subcommittee Chair Benefitted the City
As subcommittee chair, Norton held 35 hearings, 13 more than the next highest subcommittee. Norton's subcommittee, which is unusually broad, with jurisdiction over the General Services Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Economic Development Administration and the Federal Protective Service. Norton held hearings of great importance to the District, the region and the nation, including four hearings to track stimulus funds under her jurisdiction, a hearing on the snowstorms that paralyzed the region and on reimbursement for local governments, hearings on elimination of wasteful government spending and managing the federal government's large real estate portfolio, and hearings on FEMA's progress after Hurricane Katrina.
An example of a Norton subcommittee action that benefitted the city and U.S. taxpayers alike was her revision of a Department of Defense (DOD) requirement that ruled out large sections of the city and region for office space to house civilian employees. Based on testimony at her subcommittee hearing, Norton issued a new policy eliminating a DOD requirement that its back-office non-security employees doing the same administrative work as other federal civilian employees be housed in secure office space, at significantly greater cost to taxpayers. Norton could find no justification when, for example, front-line Department of Justice employees and U.S. Attorneys engaged in work related to terrorism, drug cartels, and other organized crime are housed in office space, with the usual security.
Start-Up at DHS Construction Brings First Jobs and Small Business Contracts for D.C. Residents
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security headquarters construction at the St. Elizabeths West Campus, in Ward 8, went from breaking ground to initial hiring. Norton opened the Opportunities Center in Ward 8, which she developed with the General Services Administration (GSA) and Clark Construction, to give residents the first job opportunities and small business contracts. Workshops for small and minority-owned businesses and résumé-writing sessions are held regularly at the center. The majority of the work thus far has been hauling away dirt and rocks to make room for the massive U.S. Coast Guard headquarters. Almost 70 percent of the drivers doing this work were District residents. At this early stage, the project has used 84 apprentices, more than one quarter of whom were District residents. Further, 89 District businesses have been subcontracted, with 17 from Ward 8. Norton monitors and receives monthly reports from GSA to ensure that it meets its goal of awarding 40 percent of the project's contracts to small, minority-owned and disadvantaged businesses. The project is expected to generate 38,000 construction-related jobs and 14,000 additional permanent federal jobs.
Norton Secures D.C. Stimulus Funding, Outdoing Seven States
The District survived the deep recession in no small part because of the $1 billion in the stimulus bill Norton secured for the city, more money than seven states received. Norton tracked funding to ensure that D.C. was treated as a state in every category of federal funding. In addition, among the many stimulus benefits to residents were valuable federal tax credits, including the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit, modeled after Norton's $5,000 D.C. homebuyer tax credit, and a $2,500 tax credit for college tuition and related expenses.
Norton Signs Off On Deed for Hill East to D.C. From Her Land Transfer Legislation
In September, Norton helped D.C. to meet the final conditions for the formal transfer of federal ownership to the District of Hill East, 67 acres of land, which Norton secured in her land transfer bill in 2006. The proposed mixed-use development project will enhance the neighborhood, and, along with Poplar Point, will yield a significant, steady income stream for the city, which will help to substantially remedy the structural deficit incurred by the District because of numerous federal requirements that limit its economic potential.
Norton Intervention Clears Way for "CityMarket at O" Groundbreaking
Norton helped break ground at the federally-assisted "CityMarket at O," a $260 million mixed-use development project, after she stepped in when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed to retroactively apply certain rules, threatening the project's financing. Norton convinced HUD that the new standards were not germane to the project.
Yards Park Opens at Norton's Southeast Federal Center Public-Private Development Site
September 2010 marked the opening of The Yards Park along the Southeast Waterfront, made possible by Norton's Southeast Federal Center Public-Private Development Act of 2000, which allowed private sector development of federal land for the first time. Park construction, sponsored by Forest City, the GSA, and the District proceeded despite the recession. The Yards Park is part of a larger 5.5 million square foot retail, residential, office and recreational development going up along M Street SE, from the Navy Yard to South Capitol Street, authorized by Norton's bill.
Norton Focus On Healthcare Bill Shifts Cost of Health Alliance From D.C. Taxpayers to Feds
Norton's work on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was noteworthy for the benefits she brought to D.C. residents and taxpayers in particular. The federal government will relieve D.C. taxpayers of most of the more than $50 million annually they have generously provided to the D.C. Health Alliance program, which provides health insurance for people who cannot afford it. Other important benefits of the law are already in effect. For instance, children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage, young people up to age 26 can be covered by their parents' insurance, people with pre-existing conditions who cannot get coverage can now be covered in a high-risk insurance pool, and seniors who were in the prescription drug donut hole got a $250 rebate.
Norton Gets First Indoor Intercity Bus Service at Union Station
Following hearings in her subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over Union Station, the Congresswoman required Union Station's first-ever intercity bus service, which includes two companies, Boltbus and DC2NY. Determined to make Union Station a true intermodal center, she insisted that intercity bus service begin now on the existing upper bus deck in advance of the years of work necessary to create a new intercity bus terminal there. Meanwhile, Norton is simultaneously pursuing more low-cost intercity bus service in the District. In November, she spoke at the launch of a new Megabus hub in D.C., which also will bring hundreds of thousands of visitors to the District annually. In 2007, Norton secured $500,000 in federal funds for a new makeover of Union Station and a mixed-use development above the rail tracks.
Old Naval Hospital Gets Vital Federal Tax Credit with Assistance From Norton
The Old Naval Hospital Foundation was cleared to begin transformation of the historic Old Naval Hospital into Hill Center, a community center for the Capitol Hill neighborhood, after Norton assisted in securing a 20 percent federal tax credit that was in jeopardy. The tax credit will save up to $1 million in the project's capital budget.
Norton Subcommittee Hearings Ensure Full Repayment for Record Snowstorms
Norton, chair of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over FEMA, held hearings following record snowstorms in the District to ensure that the city would receive two Presidential Disaster Declarations. The District received two federal public assistance grants totaling $7,703,425 for the cost of responding to the December and February snowstorms that crippled the region. Norton also secured $1.5 million to restore the damage done to the RFK Stadium parking lot as a result of the February snowstorm, and $1 million for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority for labor and equipment used to shovel platforms and pedestrian areas, plow lots and clear walkways during the February snowstorms.
Norton Has A 2011 Strategy Following House Passage of Her Southwest Waterfront Bill
The House passed Norton's bill to spur Southwest Waterfront development by transferring jurisdiction to the District of the waterway surrounding a planned 2.5 million square feet of mixed-use development project, which will create thousands of jobs, generate millions of dollars in annual revenue for D.C., and include waterfront parks and docks.
Norton's Final Push Gets Land for Fort Dupont Youth Baseball Academy
Working with the National Park Service and the District, Norton cleared the final hurdles to transfer ownership to D.C. of 15 acres of land at Fort Dupont Park in Southeast, where the District and the Washington Nationals will provide underserved children with a baseball academy to learn and play America's great pastime and to learn life skills.
Norton Determined to Resolve Issues and Allow Streetcars to Move Forward
Norton invited city and National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) officials to her office to help settle a dispute after NCPC objected to the District's plan to use overhead wires for its proposed streetcars. Norton continues to work to reconcile federal law concerning overhead wires with District prerogatives. Recently, however, the District Department of Transportation announced a request for proposals for wireless streetcars, reflecting the rapid technical advances that Norton predicted.
D.C. HOME RULE AND EQUAL CONGRESSIONAL STANDING ADVANCED IN 111TH CONGRESS
Still Trying to Save the District's Only Vote On the House Floor
Norton's Committee of the Whole vote is again under siege by the incoming Republican majority, Norton voted on many important matters to the city and the nation during the past four years of Democratic control of the House. She got this vote when she came to Congress by offering analysis to the Democratic majority. The federal courts agreed with her position that inasmuch as House Rules allowed her to vote in the committees, it followed that she should be permitted to vote in the Committee of the Whole, also established by the Rules. As a result, she got the District the only vote on the House floor the city has ever had. When Republicans took control, they eliminated the District's vote. When Democrats regained House control in 2007, they restored the city's vote. Norton continues to try to keep D.C.'s only vote from being stripped from House Rules.
Norton Ready to Protect Home Rule Victories Allowing D.C. to Spend Local Funds As It Chooses
Following years of work, Norton scored a historic home rule victory in 2009 with the elimination of the last and most harmful anti-home rule riders, marking the first time that the D.C. appropriations bill passed without any anti-home rule riders. During her four years in the congressional majority, she moved one by one to eliminate prohibitions on the use of local D.C. funds for needle exchange programs, medical marijuana, and abortions for low-income women. However, intent on violating the city's self-government prerogatives, Republicans tried, but failed, to re-impose the needle exchange rider, and are likely to try to re-impose the riders again next term.
Norton Uses Her Senatorial Courtesy to Give Residents Say On Important Law Enforcement Officials
Congresswoman Norton used the senatorial courtesy that President Obama granted her to recommend major federal law enforcement officials for the District of Columbia. The President forwarded Norton's picks to the Senate, including for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald Machen and Isaac Fulwood for chair of the U.S. Parole Commission. The Senate has confirmed Norton's recommendations for U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia judges, Beryl A. Howell and Robert L. Wilkins, as well asNorton's recommendation for U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia, Edwin D. Sloane. The Republicans blocked Senate confirmation of all 15 nominees approved after the election by the Senate Judiciary Committee, including two of Norton's nominees, James "Jeb" E. Boasberg and Amy Berman Jackson.
Norton sought senatorial courtesy in order to enhance home rule by empowering District residents to help choose vital federal law enforcement officers, as other Americans sometimes do. She established a 17-member D.C. Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission consisting of lawyers and non-lawyers from all eight wards, which investigates and interviews candidates and sends her a group of the best, followed by interviews by Norton, who then makes her own selections. The commission members are: Pauline Schneider, chair; Jon Bouker; Katherine Broderick; Francis D. Carter; Emilio W. Cividanes; Thomas R. Donahue; Terence C. Golden; Dr. Charles Matthew Hudson, Jr.; Emma Coleman Jordan; Janet Murguia; Johnnie Scott Rice; Daniel Solomon; Robert Spagnoletti; Thomas Williamson; Beverly Perry; Carrie L. Thornhill; and Judith Winston.
Norton Strategy for D.C. Budget Autonomy Almost Worked
Until the last days of the lame-duck session in December, Norton's D.C. budget autonomy bill was on track for enactment. Norton successfully used an unusual procedure to get her bill included in the D.C. appropriations bill, which was passed by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. Norton had convinced the authorizing committee to waive its jurisdiction over the bill to prevent gun and other anti-home rule attachments. She gave special priority to budget autonomy, second only to D.C. voting rights, because unfettered jurisdiction over local taxpayer-raised funds is the essence of home rule and because of the multiple benefits to government operations and to the District's finances. However, Congress decided on a Continuing Resolution instead of regular appropriations bills.
Large House and Senate Majorities for D.C. Voting Rights Shot Down by Gun Lobby
Norton is working towards new efforts for equal rights after the next presidential election, after getting the D.C. House Voting Rights Act (DCVRA) through both houses of Congress. The House passed her bill in 2007, but it fell three votes short of the 60 needed in the Senate. The Senate passed the bill in February 2009, by a vote of 61-37, with six Republicans supporting the bill. However, the "Ensign Amendment," a dangerous gun provision that would have eliminated all of the District's local gun laws was attached to the bill. When it became clear that conservative House Democrats would not vote for the bill again without the gun amendment, Norton worked on legislative strategies to pass a clean DCVRA and then negotiated directly with gun lobbyists. She convinced House leadership to put a clean DCVRA in the defense appropriations bill, a must-pass bill, but the Senate would not agree. In the end, the powerful NRA lobby increased its demands beyond the Ensign Amendment to also include permitting guns to be carried openly or concealed in the city, permitting guns in city-owned buildings, except for those with certain high-level security equipment, and requiring owners of commercial and apartment buildings to allow lessees to have guns in these privately owned buildings. Norton therefore delayed the bill and turned her attention to preventing the passage of the gun lobby amendment as a standalone bill, which was introduced in both houses when the gun provision could not be attached to the House DCVRA. At the same time, differences between the House and Senate bills emerged jeopardizing both Democratic and Republican Senate votes. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), the lead Republican Senate sponsor of the DCVRA was unwilling to vote for the House version of the DCVRA because it required that the new Utah seat be elected, but House Democrats feared that the Senate version, which required elections from congressional districts, would eliminate the only House Democrat from Utah. Simultaneously, some Democratic senators were unwilling to support the bill with a gun amendment. Thus, even without the gun amendment, the loss of Hatch doomed the bill because of the probable loss of the other Senate Republicans, who were necessary for passage. Norton is working towards the next presidential election, which, unlike the recent midterm, will bring out a broad cross section of voters, who polls have shown support the DCVRA by large, bipartisan margins.
Norton Gets House Passage of Bill Taking D.C. Out of Federal Hatch Act and Permitting City to Pass Its Own Law
A Norton bill permitting the District, the only local jurisdiction where local government employees are under the federal Hatch Act to enact its own Hatch Act, passed the House, a Senate committee passed the bill too. Mayor-elect Vincent Gray introduced a local Hatch Act, which would have taken effect after the Norton bill became law. Norton will reintroduce the bill in the 112th Congress.
D.C. Quarter Goes National
At a ceremony with residents, Norton rolled out the much-anticipated D.C. quarter, featuring a depiction of D.C. native Duke Ellington, the world-renowned jazz great, who was born and raised in the District, and who was the popular choice of D.C. residents. Norton repeatedly pushed her D.C. quarter bill after the city was not included, despite her protest, in the original 50-state coin bill. Norton got the Senate to agree to her bill, and the D.C. quarter, the first circulated U.S. coin displaying a prominent African American, was put into national circulation in February 2009. The U.S. Mint made more than 172 million of the popular D.C. quarters.
Norton Gets House to Pass a D.C. Statue Bill
With no way to get two statues in the U.S. Capitol for the taxpaying residents of the District, Norton got the House to pass a bill for one statue for the city, along with one for each of the U.S. territories, after House Republicans agreed to support that bill. Norton responded to the desire of residents that is so strong that years ago the city commissioned two statutes, which are ready to move into the Capitol. Her statue bill passed the House by voice vote and with bipartisan support, however, the bill stalled in the Senate. Norton will reintroduce her statue bill in the next Congress.
Norton Fends-Off Repeated Attempts Against D.C.'s Marriage Equality Law
After the District passed its marriage equality law, Norton was successful against six Senate attempts to repeal the law. She is a strong advocate of equal rights for our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents, who often experience discrimination. Despite differing views on marriage equality throughout the country, Norton feels strongly that Congress must respect the laws of the District, as they do the laws of other jurisdictions.
Norton Bill to Reduce Time to Fill D.C. Vacancies Passed in House
Norton's bill to amend D.C. Charter to reduce the waiting period for holding special elections to fill vacancies for the D.C. City Council and mayor passed the House. She will reintroduce this bill to avoid unusually long periods when residents are left without representation. Norton's bill, based on legislation passed by the council and signed by the mayor, reduces the waiting period to 70 days. Her bill is necessary because waiting periods are controlled by the District's Charter, which only Congress can amend. This is an example of a bill Norton believes she can get done in the next Congress as part of structural charter reform that Republicans and Democrats believe needlessly take congressional time.
important Environmental Missions Accomplished in 111th Congress
Norton Bill Transfers Environment-Rich Islands to D.C.
Norton's Kingman and Heritage Islands Act, which furthers Norton's focus on the Anacostia River, was signed into law by the President. The bill gives the District ownership of the islands, located near RFK Stadium on the Anacostia River, which will become a center for environmental education, recreation, and protection of the River.
Norton Gets Federal Funds to Save Homes and Businesses from Floods
Norton got $5.8 million in federal stimulus funds for construction of the Potomac Park levee to relieve businesses and homeowners in Southwest D.C. of flood insurance costs. As chair of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over FEMA, which issued new flood maps nationwide, Norton was able to successfully delay the new D.C. flood maps until she got federal funds to build the levee.
Long-Awaited 10-Year Plan for Norton's Anacostia River Clean-Up Bill Rolled Out
Norton secured $20 million for the plan and $20 million for the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority in FY 2010 to tackle the District's combined sewer overflow that pollutes the Anacostia River. A ceremony at the riverbank by the regional congressional delegation signaled the importance of the 10-year clean-up plan for the Anacostia River mandated by Norton's Anacostia Watershed Initiative Act.
Norton Gets Long-Term Commitment on Spring Valley As Munitions Are Identified
After the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it had found what appeared to be the last of the munitions first uncovered in the Northwest neighborhood of Spring Valley more than 16 years ago, Norton worked to ensure: (1) Instead of closing the book on its 16 years of recovery effort, the Corps will remain on standby in case more munitions are suspected or found; (2) Spring Valley remains the most important Formerly Used Defense Site in the country, and that funds will be made available as part of the Army Corps' annual appropriation for such sites; and (3) After initial resistance to Norton's insistence that the Corps identify the munitions and toxins it had found at the site, Corps officials provided the full list. Findings included three chemical munitions -- 75 mm arsine projectiles, a 75 mm mustard gas projectile, and a 75 mm lewisite projectile -- among other projectiles and shrapnel. After inspection by Norton, the munitions were destroyed at a Corps Explosive Destruction System site using a state-of-the-art system for disposal, rather than taking munitions through neighborhood streets, which posed a greater danger to Spring Valley and other neighborhoods. The Congresswoman has repeatedly toured the Spring Valley munitions site and has held numerous hearings to monitor the work of the Corps.
Lead in D.C.'s Water Investigated and Cleared Up
Although D.C.'s water has been below the legal lead limit of 15 ppb for five years, most recently showing a lead level of 6 ppb, Norton questioned witnesses at two hearings after a House Committee on Science and Technology subcommittee found that during D.C.'s lead-in-the-water crisis from 2001 to 2004, District children had elevated blood lead levels in 2002 and 2003 that were more than three times higher than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had reported. The CDC confirmed the findings in a recent report. Norton also met with CDC Director Dr. Thomas R. Frieden. Federal and local agencies are following up to ensure that there was no permanent damage to residents. Norton also will reintroduce the Lead-Free Drinking Water Act, which she introduced in the wake of D.C.'s water crisis to address lead standards for the nation's drinking water.
MAKING OUR PARKS AND THE MALL SAFE
Norton Mall Walks to Monitor Public Safety Pay Off
Norton's monitoring of the National Mall has helped bring improvements since she began personally walking the Mall in 2006, following assaults on residents and tourists. Dimly lit sections of the Mall are believed to have contributed to the crimes, but this summer, Norton found improved Mall lights and staffing levels, making the Mall a virtually crime-free zone again for residents and tourists, for whom the Mall is a premier destination.
Lights Coming to Sherman Circle
In an effort to ensure the safety of all city parks under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service (NPS), Norton met with D.C. Councilmember Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), the NPS, the U.S. Park Police, the Metropolitan Police Department and other officials in August following a visit to the site of a homicide near Sherman Circle Park. Norton has submitted a request to NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis for $452,000 from the Statutory Aid Account to install lights in Sherman Circle, which has none, similar to those at nearby, well-lighted Grant Circle.
Leadership ON METRO
Action on Metro Tragedy
At Norton's request, the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia Subcommittee has held frequent hearings on Metro, including the first hearing on the June 2009 Metro collision that tragically claimed nine lives, including seven District residents, and injured dozens of others. Based on this hearing, Norton wrote an amendment to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Reauthorization Act of 2010, which passed the House earlier this year, clarifying the NTSB's authority to offer interim safety recommendations, especially when it is clear that there is insufficient revenue for costly, permanent measures. Norton is also an original cosponsor of the National Metro Safety Act, which provides enforceable national safety standards for all subway systems for the first time.
Action on Metro Board Appointments
Concerned about incomplete leadership on the Metro Board of Directors, Norton wrote to GSA Administrator Martha Johnson urging GSA to quickly fill the remaining two federal vacancies on the Board by the end of this year. Shortly afterwards, Marcel Acosta, previously appointed as a non-voting Board member, was made a voting member. Because GSA did not fill the first two of the four federal seats authorized in 2009 until 2010, Norton is closely monitoring GSA to ensure all Board federal seats are filled by the end of the year.
Action on Environment-Friendly Metrobuses
Norton participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony in D.C. and in Maryland for a new X9 Metro express bus route along Benning Road and H Street after helping to get nearly $52 million in stimulus funds for the purchase of the new hybrid clean fuel buses. Norton has used her role as a subcommittee chair to be the lead on greening Washington and the National Capital Region, using energy and water conservation, alternative energy, and energy efficiency initiatives.
NORTON MAKES STRIDES FOR D.C. INMATES
Norton Starts Moving Inmates Home
Against significant odds, Norton has begun gradually bringing the 5,600 D.C. Code felons, including 248 women, now spread throughout 115 Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities in 33 states, closer to home. Following Norton's hearings, the BOP has moved D.C. juveniles convicted as adults to the D.C. Jail from North Dakota, where they were held. In addition, D.C. Code felons sentenced to six months or less and those serving weekend sentences are no longer sent away to BOP facilities across the country, but instead are housed at the D.C. Jail. Norton's long-term goal is to get an existing BOP facility near the District converted exclusively for male and female D.C. Code felons, where they will have access to family and improved chances for successful reentry into society.
Better Start for Returning Inmates Follow Norton Hearings
In preparation for a hearing on BOP halfway houses in the District, Norton visited all three of the halfway houses for men in the city. Among the results of the hearing was a BOP commitment to resume the issuance of non-driver photo ID cards for offenders, an essential proof of identity that most returning felons lack.
Norton's History-Making Dorothy I. Height Post Office Bill Signed by Obama
With Norton looking on in the Oval Office, the President signed her bill to rename the historic U.S. Post Office at 2 Massachusetts Avenue NE, next to Union Station, in honor of the "Godmother of the Civil Rights Movement," Dr. Dorothy I. Height. Norton's bill is the first to name a federal building in the nation's capital for an African American woman.
LOOKING OUT FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND VISITORS
Norton Chasing Hazards from the Capitol Complex
Immediately following the Office of Compliance report last summer estimating 6,300 serious safety hazards in the U.S. Capitol complex, Norton met with the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), and then called a hearing to investigate the safety of employees and the millions of visitors who annually come to the Capitol and congressional office buildings. At the hearing, the AOC testified that 60 percent of the violations had been abated, and that remedies for Capitol Visitor Center employee complaints were being provided.
Norton Bill Returns Lost Retirement Time to D.C. Employees Transferred to Federal Government
After trying for years to restore retirement time lost by former D.C. agency employees, Norton got her bill to restore the time attached to the Defense Authorization Act of 2010. The bill corrects a provision that seriously short-changed hundreds of employees who worked for D.C. agencies that were transferred to the federal government in 1997. Many employees had lost "creditable service," or years credited for retirement purposes, because the years they worked in the comparable District agencies prior to the federal transfers had not been credited. Norton's bill did not cost to the federal government anything.
Norton Establishes First Congressional Latino Council
As congressional issues affecting Latinos proliferated, Norton created the city's first Congressional Latino Council, with representatives from prominent Latino community groups, to sharpen the focus on the many federal issues affecting her Latino constituents. The Council meets regularly to advise her on congressional and federal matters. For example, earlier this year, Council members told Norton of their concerns about the Secure Communities initiative, a joint federal city program. She subsequently contacted Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier to make her aware of these concerns.
Norton, a former chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a constitutional lawyer, also asked the U.S. Department of Justice to seek an injunction on the discriminatory Arizona law aimed at identifying those immigrants. She is a cosponsor of the DREAM Act, which would allow undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to work their way to citizenship by enrolling in college or serving in the armed forces.
HELPING THOSE WHO SERVE D.C.
House Passes Norton's National Guard Tuition Bill
The House passed the Congresswoman's bill to rename and permanently authorize the D.C. National Guard Tuition Assistance Program in honor of Major General David Wherley, Jr., who was particularly devoted to the city's youth, after Major General Wherley and his wife, Ann, were killed in the tragic June 2009 Metro crash. The Norton bill assists D.C. Guard members with college education expenses, like most states do for their soldiers. She secured $375,000 for these expenses in FY 2010. In addition, she attended the opening of theMajor General David F. Wherley Jr. and Mrs. Ann C. Strine Wherley Family Readiness Center at the D.C. National Guard Armory. Norton believes she can get passage in the 112th Congress.
Earlier this year, Norton greeted more than 100 soldiers from the D.C. National Guard's 104th Maintenance Detachment and 547th Transportation Company as they returned from the Iraq war. Norton continues to attend all D.C. National Guard deployments, homecoming events, funerals, and other important occasions to show the city's gratitude for the many services the Guard provides for the District, as well as for their service abroad.
Norton Increases D.C. Nominees to U.S. Service Academies
Norton's dozen appointees will represent the District in all five of the very competitive U.S. service academies. Four D.C. public school students received appointments: Anthony Bertram Clay, McKinley Technology Senior High, U.S. Naval Academy and three students from Wilson Senior High, Esmeraldy Arce, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy; Langston Davis Clarke, U.S. Military Academy; and Garrett Connell, U.S. Military Academy. A home school student, Mark Gerald Hunks, Seaton Home Study School, U.S. Air Force Academy, was also appointed. The students appointed from other high schools in the District were: Michaela Noel Bilotta, Georgetown Visitation, U.S. Naval Academy; Nicholas Musashi Liu, Sidwell Friends School, U.S. Military Academy; Giuseppe Urberto Niosi, St. Anselm's Abbey School, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy; Sebastian Fares Zaki, St. Anselm's Abbey School, U.S. Air Force Academy; and Benjamin Robert Zeiss, Gonzaga College High School, U.S. Naval Academy. Two active duty service members Charles Michael Clymer, U.S. Military Academy, and Nickolas Immanuel Morejon, U.S. Naval Academy.
The Congresswoman depends on her Service Academy Selection Board, composed of all D.C. residents, most of whom are graduates of the academies, to make recommendations.
Norton Expanded Her Events in the Community This Term Offering A New Varity in Keeping With Residents' Interests
Among the many events, National Dance Day, held this summer with TV's So You Think You Can Dance celebrity judge Nigel Lithgoe, drew more than 1,500 people to the National Mall, where participants learned various dance moves and watched performances from area dance troupes to become annual event. Norton in Your Neighborhood community conversations, which she began after the gun amendment delayed passage of the D.C. voting rights bill in order to facilitate participatory discussions of all the options for achieving D.C.'s rights, as well as of federal matters of interest, were held in every ward in conjunction with Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, community organizations, and individuals. Annual ANC's in the Capitol to keep ANC Commissioners informed of congressional issues and to hear their concerns. At Young, Educated, and Unemployed: Keeping College Graduates from Becoming a Lost Generation Roundtable held at Busboys and Poets experts and recent college graduates discussed overcoming their high unemployment rate. Commission on Black Men and Boys (COBMB) Roundtable on Black Men & Unemployment: What Black Men Need to Do in the Toughest Job Market in History, was lead by the late Dr. Ronald Walters. The Commission on Black Men andBoys Youth Violence: Helping Young Boys Become Young Men, included testimony from Tony Lewis, Jr., son of one of D.C.'s most notorious drug dealers, but unlike his father, "Little" Tony Lewis, the son has always been a law-abiding citizen and now works in law enforcement. Ask Me About Washington, held in conjunction with the D.C. Chamber of Commerce and representatives from 50 tourism- and entertainment-related businesses promoted D.C. tourism among Members of Congress and staff, who are visited in D.C. by millions of constituents annually. Annual Tax and Financial Services Fair offered free tax preparation and financial planning services. Annual Job Fair drew more than 5,000 residents to meet with 100 D.C. and regional public and private sector employers with confirmed job openings. Access to Capital Small Business Fair had many new features for the almost 400 D.C. small businesses that attended, including information on new tax credits to help small businesses provide health insurance for their employees, hire unemployed individuals, and for start-up expenditures, and opportunities for small businesses to meet with scores of banks, credit unions, and federal agencies with contracts. At the fair, Norton introduced her "Small Business of the Year," Regional Contracting Services, a woman- and minority-owned D.C. small business specializing in rough carpentry, fire-stopping, insulation, and building supplies, which won a DHS contract.
Goals for 112th Congress
Home Rule Act Charter Changes in D.C. Structure Look Possible in Next Congress
Norton will introduce a bill to grant the District authority over many structural matters in the District Charter, such as mayoral control of the D.C. Public Schools, which only Congress can amend. The D.C. government would be able to make changes to these structural provisions without coming to Congress. Because the bill involves structural changes, Norton believes she can get it passed in a Republican House.
Norton to Introduce Statehood and Voting Rights Bills to Lay Down a Marker for 2012
The Norton in Your Neighborhood Community Conversations, held after the gun amendment forced her to delay the voting rights bill revealed that residents want to discuss various approaches to pursuing their rights, pending changes in Congress that will again open the passage for a bill. Norton, who got almost two-thirds of a heavily Democratic House to support her Statehood bill, in the 1990s, will introduce that bill again, along with the D.C. House Voting Rights Act and a bill for votes in the House and Senate, both of which she has pursed in the past. Norton has already attended a joint meeting with Mayor-elect Vincent Gray, Chairman-elect Kwame Brown, DC Vote and other groups to discuss possible actions to maintain the momentum for voting rights and to prepare for the likely battle to preserve Norton's victory of removing the anti-home rule riders.
Permanent Reauthorization of U.S. Parole Board Necessary for Law Enforcement in D.C.
Norton will seek to permanently reauthorize the U.S. Parole Commission (USPC) well in advance of its expiration in November 2011 to prevent a replay of a congressional delay on its last reauthorization, which jeopardized due process for offenders and nearly resulted in court intervention. The USPC has been temporarily reauthorized five times since federal parole was abolished, but the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997 transferred D.C. Code felons to the BOP and the USPC, which now gives the USPC permanent jurisdiction over felons.
Norton to Ask $10 Million in President's Budget for New D.C. Community College
Norton will ask President Obama to put $10 million in his upcoming budget for the new Community College of the District of Columbia (CCDC). Norton has championed the CCDC as the only practical way to prepare the significant number of D.C. residents who are unable to find decent jobs in this region, because of a lack of access to workforce-specific training for jobs. She got the House appropriators to put $10 million in this year's D.C. appropriation for the CCDC, but Congress passed a continuing resolution instead of regular appropriations bills this year.
Norton Proposal to Restore Heliport Service to Assist Economic Recovery
Norton submitted a detailed formal proposal to the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) to reopen the South Capitol Street Heliport (SCSH), the only public heliport in the city. After 9/11, TSA permitted some flights to continue for four years and then, without warning or explanation, abruptly shut down the heliport. Norton will enlist the regional delegation to help reopen the heliport in light of the economic downturn, the passage of almost 10 years since 9/11, and the quick reopening of every heliport other than SCSH, including in New York City, where the greatest devastation on 9/11 occurred. Before 9/11, SCSH brought significant business to the District and region, peaking at 41 corporate operators, including motion picture industry helicopters. Government helicopters still use the heliport.
Norton to Seek Republican Cosponsor for Her Federal Employees Disability Insurance Bill
Norton will seek bipartisan cosponsorship of her bill to allow federal employees to collect a portion of their income if they are unable to work because of a non-work-related injury or illness, at no cost to the government. Norton's bill is necessary because of gaps in the government's non-work-related disability benefits for federal employees.
Norton Bill to Speed Modification and Foreclosure Relief
Norton will introduce a bill to permit independent third parties, such as certified housing counselors, to propose mortgage modifications where banks will have three months to accept or reject. Homeowners of foreclosed homes will have the option of renting their homes at market rates until they are sold. Not only will this help the former homeowners, it will help to reduce the number of vacant homes, which affect property values in neighborhoods.
Norton saw the necessity for new legislation after teaming with HUD and the U.S. Department of the Treasury to host a "Saving Homes, Foreclosure Prevention Day" in June, where 13 mortgage lenders and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provided tentative loan modifications onsite, but failed to make most of them permanent. In October, Norton also was among the first to call for a moratorium on foreclosures in D.C. until mortgage lenders demonstrated that they were no longer processing foreclosures without examining the underlining documents.
Norton Bill to Equalize Political Participation of D.C. Federal Employee to Equal the Rights of Regional Counterparts
In another step for equal treatment for the District, Norton will reintroduce a bill to give the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) the authority to exempt the District from the federal Hatch Act's prohibition on federal employee participation in local partisan elections. OPM now permits participation by federal employees in political campaigns as or on behalf of an independent candidate in local partisan elections only in certain Maryland and Virginia towns near the District and in towns in which the majority of voters are federal employees. When the Hatch Act was passed in 1940, OPM's predecessor agency was given the authority to exempt federal employees living in Maryland and Virginia towns near D.C. because if federal employees in such towns had not been allowed to participate in local elections much of a town's population would have been denied the opportunity to participate in local affairs. Currently, federal employees residing in 47 Maryland jurisdictions, including Chevy Chase Village and Bethesda, 15 Virginia jurisdictions, including Alexandria, and 12 other municipalities across the United States are permitted to participate in partisan local elections. However, OPM's predecessor agency was not given the same authority for the District of Columbia, probably because D.C. did not have local elections until the Home Rule Act of 1973.
Norton to Seek Republican Support for Bill to Make D.C. a Tax-Free International Center
Norton believes she can add a new sector to the D.C. economy with a bill to make the District an international financial center for catastrophic insurance reserves, which are now held offshore in tax-free jurisdictions, such as the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. Norton's bill would make the District a special tax-exempt jurisdiction, attracting companies to establish offices here, and hire D.C. employees. The companies would pay the District an excise or premium tax or fee on the catastrophic funds, as offshore jurisdictions require. She believes that this bill could attract Republican and Democrat support.
Norton, who chairs the subcommittee with jurisdiction over natural and terrorism disasters, said maintaining these large reserves in small foreign jurisdictions poses a risk to the U.S. economy, as well as to taxpayers because, as the financial crisis showed, the U.S. government is the ultimate funder in the event of a crisis.
Norton to Introduce the Entire Remaining "Free and Equal D.C. Series"
Norton will reintroduce her "D.C. Free and Equal" series of bills, which includes bills for: statehood, a House seat, House and Senate seats, budget and legislative autonomy, charter reform, a D.C. District Attorney, D.C. Hatch Act, D.C. statues, and D.C. authority over the D.C. National Guard. These bills will keep the determination of D.C. residents for their equal rights before the Congress. Norton is watching and is prepared for openings to pursue any part of D.C.'s rights.