Norton to Speak on All 14 D.C.-Focused Bills in Oversight Committee Markup Wednesday

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that she will speak on all 14 bills that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (COGR) will mark up on Wednesday. Every bill at the markup will focus on D.C. Thirteen of the bills would repeal or alter local D.C. laws, while the 14^th piece of legislation is Norton’s bill to allow D.C. to comply with the Home Rule Act's requirement that local legislation be transmitted to Congress by sending it electronically. Currently the legislation must be printed and physically brought to Congress. D.C. has had difficulties physically transmitting the legislation in recent years, both during the coronavirus pandemic when the Capitol was closed to visitors and while security restrictions were in place after the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

“Despite the progress I’m making on the bill being marked up that I introduced, I fully understand that the last month has brought great difficulties to the District, and this markup does not help,” Norton said. “The president took advantage of D.C.’s unique status by federalizing our police force for the first time in history, flooded our streets with National Guard troops who are largely from far-away states and wholly unaccountable to D.C. residents, and surged federal law enforcement officers to conduct masked arrests in our neighborhoods. None of these actions are acceptable, warranted or deserved.

“The Oversight Committee is now set to mark up 13 bills to repeal or alter D.C. laws on Wednesday. Republicans in Congress may have the ability to impose their will on D.C., but I will not make it easy for them. I’ll speak in Wednesday’s markup about every single D.C. bill the Committee marks up. These bills are yet further evidence of why we need D.C. statehood.

“I am pleased to have gotten the Oversight Committee to agree to mark up my bill to allow D.C. to transmit legislation to Congress electronically for the congressional review period. The current requirement that D.C. physically transmit its legislation imposes unacceptable costs on both the Council and Congress. The D.C. Council engages in a burdensome 12-step process to physically transmit legislation, including printing two copies of each bill and committee report, arranging a time for delivery of these documents to the offices of the Speaker and President of the Senate and having two staffers drive to the Capitol to deliver the documents—two are necessary because of parking restrictions. There should not be a review period, but so long as D.C. must continue to transmit bills, it is at least time to bring this onerous process up to date.”

The Committee will stream the hearing live.

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