Norton Secures Victories in Senate D.C. Appropriations Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced the victories she secured in the Senate’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 District of Columbia Appropriations bill, which was released yesterday. In addition to other victories for D.C., the bill would secure $40 million for the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program (DCTAG) and increase the DCTAG annual and lifetime awards. Notably, the bill does not contain 18 of the anti-home rule riders included in the House version of the bill.

Norton secured the following victories:

• The bill provides $40 million for DCTAG, an increase in the annual DCTAG award from $10,000 to $15,000, and an increase in the lifetime DCTAG award from $50,000 to $75,000.
• The bill has only the two existing legacy riders, prohibiting D.C. from spending its own local funds on abortion services for low-income women and prohibiting D.C. from spending its own local funds to commercialize adult-use marijuana, whereas the House version of the bill contained 20 anti-home rule riders.
• The bill would provide $50 million for emergency planning and security costs related to the federal presence in D.C.
• The bill exempts D.C. from federal government shutdowns in FY 2027.
• The bill provides $6 million for D.C. Water for ongoing work to control flooding in D.C. and to clean up the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers and Rock Creek Park.
• The bill provides $4 million to combat HIV/AIDS in D.C.
• The bill provides $600,000 for the Major General David F. Wherley, Jr. District of Columbia National Guard Retention and College Access Program.

Norton expressed disappointment that the bill would continue to prohibit the District from spending its own local funds on abortion services for low-income women and on recreational marijuana commercialization.

“Although I am disappointed that the marijuana and abortion riders are included yet again in the D.C. appropriation bill, I am pleased that the 18 other riders that were included in the House version were not,” Norton said. “D.C. has a larger population than two states, and its residents are equally worthy of deciding their own local affairs. The 700,000 people who live in the nation’s capital are no less worthy of the benefits of democracy than any other American, and I will use every tool at my disposal to see that they receive as many of those benefits as possible.”

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