Press Releases
January 13, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced a bill to create a local prosecutor's office, designated under local law, to prosecute all local crimes in the District of Columbia. Under federal law, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, a federal entity, is responsible for prosecuting almost all local crimes committed by adults here, the greater part of its caseload, in addition to prosecuting federal crimes. Norton noted that the territories of the United States all have local prosecutors to prosecute local crimes. Her bill would effectuate a 2002 advisory referendum, approved by 82 percent of D.C. voters, to create a local prosecutor's office.
January 7, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) today announced the introduction of the District of Columbia statehood bill for the 119th Congress. Van Hollen is taking over the bill in the Senate after the retirement of the longtime Senate lead, Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), who had introduced the Senate companion bill since 2013, retired at the end of the 118th Congress. The members thanked Carper for his longtime Senate leadership and advocacy, during which the first Senate hearing on the bill was held. The statehood bill passed the House for the first time in history in June of 2020 and passed again in April of 2021.
January 7, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that President Biden signed into law her bipartisan bill with Rep. James Comer (R-KY) to transfer administrative jurisdiction over the RFK Stadium campus from the federal government to D.C. for a term not less than 99 years.
January 6, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced victories for D.C. included in the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources and Development Act of 2024, which President Biden signed into law over the weekend.
January 6, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released the following statement on the four-year anniversary of the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and called for Congress to give the District of Columbia mayor control over the D.C. National Guard.
January 6, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced her Securities and Exchange Commission Real Estate Leasing Authority Revocation Act, which would revoke the independent real estate leasing authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and direct the Government Accountability Office to update its 2016 report on independent real estate leasing authority. The House passed the bill in 2022.
January 6, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today reintroduced her District of Columbia Legislative Home Rule Act, which would eliminate the congressional review period for bills passed by the D.C. Council, enabling local D.C. bills to take effect immediately. Currently, there is a required congressional review period for bills passed by the D.C. Council of either 30 or 60 legislative days, depending on the type of bill. If a resolution disapproving a D.C. bill is signed into law during the review period, that D.C. bill does not become law.
December 30, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today sent her condolences to the family and loved ones of former President Jimmy Carter, who passed away yesterday at the age of 100. President Carter nominated Norton as the first woman to head the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 1977. She was confirmed and served as head of the Commission, where she enforced Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, barring job discrimination, until 1981.
December 21, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) celebrated the early morning Senate passage of her bill with Rep. James Comer (R-KY) to transfer administrative jurisdiction over the RFK Stadium campus from the federal government to D.C. for up to 99 years. The bill is now headed to the president's desk to be signed into law.
December 20, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. — After the House passed a continuing resolution (CR) that excluded her bill with Chairman James Comer (R-KY) to transfer administrative jurisdiction over the RFK Stadium campus from the federal government to D.C. for up to 99 years, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she was disappointed but remained committed to getting D.C. control of the land so it could be put to productive use. A previous version of the CR unveiled earlier this week included the RFK Stadium bill.