Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Congressman Jesús G. “Chuy” García (D-IL), Congressman Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) today expressed disappointment that the fiscal year (FY) 2023 continuing resolution (CR) does not provide increased funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) for humanitarian assistance to migrants. The members led colleagues in requesting that the CR provide $50 million above the enacted FY 2022 level for the EFSP for humanitarian assistance to migrants. The members committed to continue fighting for increased funding in the final FY 2023 appropriations bill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that she will meet next week with the new Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Colette Peters, and that she will introduce a bill that would require BOP to place District of Columbia residents serving sentences for D.C. Code felonies in BOP facilities within 250 miles of D.C. Under the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, individuals serving sentences for D.C. Code felonies are in BOP custody.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on abortion on Thursday, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will highlight how uniquely vulnerable the reproductive rights of District of Columbia residents are because Congress has control over D.C.’s local affairs. Currently, Congress prohibits D.C. from spending its local funds on abortion, even though 16 states use their own funds for this purpose. At the hearing, Norton will warn that a future Republican Congress could ban abortion in D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the possibility of a federal government shutdown on Friday, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today reminded District of Columbia residents that a provision she got included in the enacted fiscal year (FY) 2022 D.C. Appropriations bill exempts the D.C. government from a federal government shutdown in FY 2023. Norton has gotten the D.C. government exempted from federal government shutdowns each year since FY 2015.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) last week introduced a resolution that would support the designation of September 23, 2022, as “Mary Church Terrell Day,” recognizing Mary Church Terrell’s lasting contributions to the civil rights and women’s rights movements. Terrell moved to the District of Columbia in 1887 to become a teacher at M Street Colored High School, now known as Dunbar High School, which is Norton’s alma mater. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that the Government Accountability Office’s report on the enacted fiscal year (FY) 2022 earmarks demonstrates that the District of Columbia’s lack of statehood likely cost D.C. tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in FY 2022 earmarks. While Norton received a similar amount of FY 2022 earmark funding as other House members, D.C. had no senators to request earmarks in the Senate. For example, Vermont, which has a smaller population than D.C., received $193 million more than D.C. in FY 2022 earmark funding, and Alaska, which has only 62,000 more residents than D.C., received $234 million more than D.C. in FY 2022 earmark funding.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, on the International Day of Peace, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced a resolution supporting the designation of September 2022 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) announced that her District of Columbia Home Rule Expansion Act, which would be the biggest expansion of D.C. home rule since passage of the D.C. Home Rule Act in 1973, passed the Committee on Oversight and Reform today. The bill would give D.C. the exclusive authority to prosecute D.C. crimes, give D.C. the exclusive authority to grant clemency for D.C. crimes, and eliminate the congressional review period for D.C. legislation.