Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today reintroduced the District of Columbia Government Title Equality Act, which would redesignate the Mayor of the District of Columbia as the Governor, the D.C. Council as the Legislative Assembly, the D.C. Councilmembers as Representatives, and the Chair of the Council as the Speaker. These are the titles used in the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth constitution, which the District adopted in 2016 in anticipation of passage of a bill to make D.C. the 51st state. Norton introduced the bill to highlight to the American people and Members of Congress that there would be a seamless transition to D.C. statehood because D.C. residents pay full federal taxes and D.C. operates as the functional equivalent of a state, providing state-, county- and city-level services, despite being denied voting representation in the House and Senate and full local self-government.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that her bill to authorize the establishment of a memorial on federal land in the District of Columbia to honor enslaved persons passed the House Committee on Natural Resources today. The memorial, to be established by the Georgetown African American Historic Landmark Project and Tour, would honor enslaved persons’ presence, celebrate their contributions to history and recognize their resilience and fortitude. Norton’s bill originally would have established a memorial honoring the enslaved persons who disembarked at the Georgetown Waterfront, but Norton and the committee decided to amend the bill to honor all enslaved persons.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that she will file legislation that directs the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct studies on alternative sources of drinking water for the District of Columbia and on flood mitigation in the Federal Triangle area of D.C. Norton will file this legislation in the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure as part of the committee’s development of the forthcoming Water Resources Development Act of 2022.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said today that she will defeat a bill introduced yesterday by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) that would nullify the District of Columbia’s requirements that individuals present documentation of COVID-19 vaccination to enter certain facilities and that students receive COVID-19 vaccination. Paul is the sixth member this Congress to try to block a D.C. vaccine policy.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), the first woman to chair the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, today announced that she will introduce a bill to require employers to provide the salary range for jobs in advertisements and interviews and to existing employees. Several states have enacted laws relating to salary range disclosure. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) called on the Senate to pass voting rights legislation and her District of Columbia statehood bill, which passed the House for the second time last April.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said today that she will defeat a bill introduced yesterday by Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) that would nullify the District of Columbia’s order that requires individuals to present documentation of COVID-19 vaccination to enter restaurants, bars and many other facilities, which takes effect on January 15, 2022. Gaetz is the fifth member of Congress to try to block a D.C. vaccine policy this Congress.

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) sent a letter today to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy expressing concern about recent United States Postal Service layoffs, particularly with increased reports of delayed and undelivered mail in the District of Columbia and across the country.