Press Releases
July 23, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today held a press conference with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) to preemptively advocate for equal treatment of the District of Columbia in the next coronavirus response bill.
The CARES Act, passed in March, treated D.C. as a territory for fiscal relief – instead of as a state, as is usually the case for funding purposes – at the insistence of Senate Republicans and the White House, depriving the District of $755 million in fiscal relief to which it was entitled.
July 22, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which the House passed yesterday, would prohibit governors from deploying their National Guards in another state or the District of Columbia without the consent of the chief executive officer of that jurisdiction Norton celebrated the victory for D.C. and said she considered it especially important after out-of-state National Guard units were deployed to the District last month without the mayor’s consent. Under current law, governors, at the request of the president, may deploy their National Guards in another state or D.C. without the consent of the chief executive officer of that jurisdiction.
July 22, 2020
Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) strongly supported the Great American Outdoors Act, which the House passed today and now heads to the president’s desk, pointing out that the District of Columbia is a city of parks, with 20 percent of the District consisting of parkland, almost 90 percent of which is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service (NPS).
July 21, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) will introduce the Law Enforcement Identification Transparency Act of 2020, requiring all federal and local law enforcement officers to identify their name, agency, and badge number on their uniform at all times while on duty or serving the public. The bill conditions federal funding for local and state law enforcement on the inclusion of identifying information on their uniforms.
July 21, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that Norton will testify today at a House hearing on her bill to remove the Albert Pike statue from federal land in the District of Columbia and released her testimony. “General Albert Pike was probably the worst of the memorialized Confederates,” Norton said. “He slaughtered Union troops, a war crime, stole funds and was captured by his own troops. His statue should be preserved in a museum, where it can be properly interpreted.” The Pike statue was taken down by a crowd during a demonstration on June 19, 2020, but President Trump has indicated he intends to put the statue back up. The hearing is being held by the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands at 10 a.m.
July 20, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today listed major victories for the District of Columbia in the House Appropriations Committee-passed fiscal year (FY) 2021 appropriations bills.
July 19, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released Norton’s testimony on her Veterans Legal Support Act of 2019, which would authorize funds for law school clinical programs to assist veterans filing for and appealing Department of Veterans Affairs claims for benefits and with other legal matters. Norton, who taught law as a tenured professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, cited as the need for her bill the 400,000 veterans waiting for claims to be processed. Norton testified Thursday before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs. Norton testified that the bill would help to meet the demand for legal services at little cost to the federal government.
July 18, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who was a colleague of the late Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) first in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and then in the House of Representatives, issued a statement today on the passing of her friend.
July 16, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced yesterday that she was able to include in the House’s Water Resources Development Act of 2020 (WRDA), the major water infrastructure bill, a provision that would help accelerate the cleanup of harmful sediments in and around the federal navigation channel in the Anacostia River. The provision changes the parameters in terms of depth and coordinates of the federal navigation channel. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed WRDA yesterday.
July 15, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In light of interest in the highways and transit provisions of the Moving Forward Act (H.R. 2), which the House passed 233 to 188 earlier this month, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today laid out major wins for the District of Columbia and the nation in H.R. 2. Numerous areas, ranging from typical matters like bridge and highway funding to new funding for congestion reduction, climate change and innovation, make the highways and transit provisions of H.R. 2 a clean break from prior bills. As Chair of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee, Norton played a leading role in writing the bill, which, in addition to containing unprecedented provisions on schools, housing and broadband access, is the vehicle for the reauthorization of major programs related to highways, bridges, transit and rail.