Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C.— In the wake of the historic Paris climate accord reached this past weekend, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that, since climate change is already underway, fueling unprecedented weather patterns and rising waters, the federal government must do more to help states and localities prepare for and cope with natural disasters. Therefore, Norton today introduced the FEMA Help and Education for Local Partners Act (FEMA HELP Act) to create a federal multi-agency team, led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to provide coordinated disaster assistance to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will attend the United Planning Organization Annual Capitol Hill Holiday event for underprivileged children at the Capitol today, Thursday, December 17, 2015, from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., in 345 Cannon House Office Building.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Following weeks of anti-Muslim bigotry and acts of hatred, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC) joined Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Joe Crowley (D-NY), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Mike Honda (D-CA), Keith Ellison (D-MN), and André Carson (D-IN), along with 63 original cosponsors, to introduce legislation condemning violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslim-Americans.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that the fiscal year 2016 omnibus appropriations bill, released today, is a major victory for the District of Columbia, containing a record $40 million for the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program (DCTAG), which is an increase of $10 million from last year’s level, has no new anti-home-rule riders, exempts D.C. from a shutdown in fiscal year 2017, provides the full $150 million for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) capital improvements, gives full funding to the Congresswoman’s major economic development project: the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) complex at St. Elizabeths in Ward 8, addresses airplane noise, contains her amendment to combat racial profiling, permits sledding on Capitol Hill, and provides other critical funding for the District that she requested.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said she was “relieved, candidly, as expected,” that a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated Judge Frederick J. Scullin Jr.’s decision—that D.C.’s “good reason” requirement for issuing a concealed carry permit was unconstitutional—because the decision was outside his jurisdiction as a visiting judge.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As the Library of Congress searches for a permanent Librarian of Congress, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) put equality for the District of Columbia on the new Librarian’s agenda by introducing a bill to require the Library of Congress to install the District’s seal in the stained-glass windows of the Thomas Jefferson Building’s Main Reading Room, which contains the seals of all states and territories that existed when the building was constructed, except for the District seal.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Congressman Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-DC) today called for continued focus on improving bicyclist and pedestrian safety in response to the troubling increase in pedestrian and cyclist fatalities in recent years.