Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) announced today that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has agreed to a comprehensive review of the new Thrift Savings Plan online system after Norton and Spanberger co-led a letter requesting it. The members requested the review after hearing from constituents about problems with the system, including difficulties accessing accounts, discrepancies in account balances, missing or incomplete information, and hours-long wait times to reach customer service.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that she will introduce a bill that would require retail establishments to provide individuals with medical conditions requiring immediate use of a bathroom, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, access to employee-only bathrooms when such establishments do not have public bathrooms. The individual would need to present documentation of the medical condition, and the bill will include provisions to protect the safety of employees.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today condemned the motion filed by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) to commit the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which has jurisdiction over D.C., to block the District of Columbia from using funds to enforce its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students. The motion was defeated in the Senate 49-51. Without statehood, D.C. could have its vaccine laws, including its vaccine mandate for D.C. students, overturned by Congress. Norton has defeated all the attacks on D.C. vaccine mandates.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA), Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA), Representative Val Demings (D-FL), and Representative Grace Meng (D-NY) announced that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has agreed to issue a report on federal advertising contracts and subcontracts with small, disadvantaged and minority-owned businesses. The members co-led a letter asking for the report in June. This report would update the data published in a report issued by the GAO in 2018.

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that the Senate Judiciary Committee today approved Norton recommendation to President Biden Ana Reyes for the U.S. District Court for D.C. The next step will be a confirmation vote by the full Senate. If confirmed, Reyes will be the first Hispanic woman and first openly LGBTQ person to ever serve on that court. Norton’s first two recommendations to Biden for the same court, Jia Cobb and Florence Pan, were confirmed by the Senate and are serving on the bench, and President Biden announced his intent to nominate Judge Todd Edelman to the same court at the end of July.

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that President Biden today announced his intent to nominate Judge Todd Edelman, an Associate Judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Norton recommended Edelman to Biden. Norton’s first two recommendations to Biden for the U.S. District Court for D.C., Jia Cobb and Florence Pan, were confirmed by the Senate, and her third recommendation, Ana Reyes, is pending before the Senate.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) secured a historic home-rule victory in the Senate Committee on Appropriations’ fiscal year 2023 District of Columbia Appropriations bill, released today, which allows D.C. to spend its local funds under the Local Budget Autonomy Act (BAA). This is the first time the Senate’s D.C. appropriations bill has recognized the BAA. The bill contains many other victories for D.C., including $40 million for the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program (DCTAG), a program a Norton bill created; increased annual and lifetime DCTAG awards; and no anti-home-rule riders.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) announced that 11 reports accompanying the House’s fiscal year 2023 appropriations bills include their language directing federal agencies to report on advertising contracts with small disadvantaged businesses and businesses owned by minorities and women in their budget justifications. The members recently joined colleagues in sending a letter to the Government Accountability Office on the topic.