Norton Statement After House Passage of Two Anti-D.C. Home Rule Bills

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– After the House passed two anti-D.C. home rule bills tonight, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she was disappointed but unsurprised. The first bill, introduced by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), would require mandatory pretrial and post-conviction detention for certain crimes. The second bill, introduced by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), would repeal D.C.'s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022.

"Tonight's votes are yet another example demonstrating that House Republicans, elected to represent far-away districts, are more interested in forcing their will on D.C. residents than in representing the interests of their own constituents," Norton said. "Rep. Stefanik's bill forces mandatory detention without due process protections that the Constitution requires and Americans rightly expect, and Rep. Clyde's bill would overturn a carefully negotiated, locally supported police reform law.

"The bills passed by the House tonight don't make D.C. safer. They simply substitute the judgment of politicians from New York and Georgia for the judgment of the 700,000 people who actually live here. I will continue to fight these outrageous intrusions into D.C.'s right to self-government and working towards the only permanent solution: D.C. statehood."

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