Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released her floor statement ahead of today’s scheduled debate and vote on her bipartisan bill with Chair James Comer (R-KY) to direct the federal government to transfer administrative jurisdiction over the RFK Stadium campus to D.C. for 99 years, allowing D.C. to use the land for stadium redevelopment, commercial and residential development, or other public purposes. Norton has worked on prior versions of the bill aimed at revitalizing RFK Stadium campus, which at 174 acres is the largest unused track of land in the District, since 2017. This is the first time any version of the legislation has been considered on the House floor.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced a bill to make D.C. eligible for the same federal funding as states under two federal wildlife conservation laws.

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced today that President Biden has nominated Norton’s recommendation, Sparkle L. Sooknanan, to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Sooknanan has been the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division since 2023. She previously served as a Deputy Associate Attorney General in the Department of Justice after first working in the Department as an appellate attorney in the Civil Division. She served as a law clerk for Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the U.S. Supreme Court, for Judge Guido Calabresi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and for Judge Eric N. Vitaliano on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Sooknanan received her J.D., summa cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School, her M.B.A. with distinction from Hofstra University, and her B.S., summa cum laude, from St. Francis College.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced a bill to amend the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Act to make the District of Columbia eligible for federal forestry research funds. The McIntire-Stennis Act provides U.S. states and territories with formula funds to support state-designated institutions' cooperative forestry research programs. Norton said that her bill would make D.C. eligible for funding that would particularly support research at the University of the District of Columbia's (UDC) College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability, and Environmental Sciences, whose programs complement the city's ongoing forestry efforts. UDC is the nation's only urban land-grant university. Norton successfully got her provision to enable UDC to receive federal funding for forestry research under the McIntire-Stennis Act included in the Senate-passed 2013 Farm Bill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced a bill to amend title 1 of the United States Code to deem D.C. as both a state and political subdivision of a state – such as a city or county – for federal funding eligibility.

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) celebrated what is recognized as famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass' 206th birthday. (Like many enslaved, Douglass did not know his birthday, but he celebrated it on Valentine’s Day.) Norton’s D.C. statehood bill would name the 51st state “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth” in honor of Douglass’, a longtime D.C. resident, advocacy of equal rights for the District.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced today that the National Park Service (NPS) will be hosting various public events throughout Northeast and Southeast D.C. to share proposed plans to improve NPS recreational facilities at the Alabama Avenue playground, Battery Ricketts and Fort Stanton Park, Kenilworth Park, Randle Circle Park, Lanham Estates and Ridge Road picnic areas at Fort Dupont Park, and River Terrace Park at Anacostia Park.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the federal tax filing season kicks off, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) issued a statement reminding the public that the District of Columbia pays more federal taxes per capita than any state and more federal taxes overall than 19 states, while being denied the same voting representation in Congress or full local self-government accorded to residents of the 50 states. Norton said that the remedy is for Congress to pass her D.C. statehood bill.