Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced a bill to require a majority of the members of the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), which has review authority for several types of property in D.C., be D.C. residents.

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced her District of Columbia Courts Home Rule Act today, which would give the Council of the District of Columbia authority over the jurisdiction and organization of the local D.C. courts. The D.C. Home Rule Act expressly prohibits D.C. from enacting any law with respect to any provision of the D.C. Code that relates to the jurisdiction and organization of the local D.C. courts. Congress can give D.C. this authority even before the District becomes the 51st state.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the possibility of a federal government shutdown beginning Sunday morning, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today reminded District of Columbia residents that a provision she got included in the fiscal year (FY) 2023 District of Columbia Appropriations bill exempts the D.C. government from a federal government shutdown in FY 2024. Norton has gotten a provision exempting the D.C. government from federal government shutdowns each year since FY 2015. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced her annual resolution to designate September as "National Campus Sexual Assault Awareness Month.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, on the International Day of Peace, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced a resolution supporting the designation of September 2023 as national “Peace Month” and calling on Congress to take action to promote peace, at home and abroad. The idea for the resolution came from the Helpful Potato Bugs, a class of second-grade students at Horace Mann Elementary School in the District of Columbia. In 2018, the students sent Norton a handwritten note, adorned with peace signs, expressing their desire to “help make the world a peaceful place” and for “all Americans to be nice, have no conflicts, and be very peaceful.” Norton has been introducing resolutions supporting the designation of September as Peace Month since then.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) celebrated the safe return home of D.C. resident Emad Shargi, who had been detained in Iran since 2018. Norton wrote Secretary of State Blinken twice on Shargi's behalf, received a State Department briefing on his case in July 2022, and published a Congressional Record statement to coincide with Shargi's birthday in September 2022.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released her statement, as prepared for delivery, for today’s markup of Chairman James Comer (R-KY)’s and Norton’s bill to direct the federal government to lease the RFK 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 previously introduced legislation to allow the federal government to sell the land, which at 174 acres is the largest unused track of land in the District, to D.C. for fair market value.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) reintroduced her bill to exempt from federal government shutdowns agencies that have jurisdiction only over District of Columbia matters but are exclusively or primarily funded by the federal government and not under the District's control. Norton emphasized that these agencies are essentially D.C. agencies that have nothing to do with federal issues or congressional shutdown matters. They provide critical criminal and civil justice services to the District and should continue to function during a federal government shutdown to protect the safety and well-being of D.C. residents.