Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced a bill to amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act (HRA) to permit the Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia to transmit legislation to Congress in the form of the Chairman’s choosing, including electronic form. This bill seeks to modernize the method D.C. legislation is transmitted to Congress for the congressional review period.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a January 6th vigil, where participants were invited to speak on any of four pending voting rights bills, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) used the occasion to call for recommitting the nation to making the District of Columbia the 51st state.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said today that she would defeat the effort by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) to block a bill recently passed by the Council of the District of Columbia that requires students to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Cruz, who yesterday announced his intention to introduce a bill to block the mandate, is the fourth member of Congress to try to block a D.C. vaccine policy this Congress.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released the following statement on the one-year anniversary of the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, including calling for Congress to give the District of Columbia mayor control over the D.C. National Guard.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced today that she will reintroduce her McIntire-Stennis Act District of Columbia Equality Act this week. The bill would make the District of Columbia eligible for federal funding that supports forestry research under the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Act. Currently, the states and three territories are eligible for the funding.

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today renewed her vow to defeat an anti-home-rule bill introduced by Congressman Pat Fallon (R-TX) that would prohibit the District of Columbia from requiring an individual to present documentation of COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of entering any building, facility or other venue in D.C. When this bill was introduced in August 2021, D.C. had no such requirement, but starting January 15, proof of COVID-I9 vaccination will be required to enter many facilities in D.C., including restaurants.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the District of Columbia faces a rare snowstorm, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released a statement today reminding D.C. residents that her annual provision in the Legislative Branch. Appropriations bill allows sledding on Capitol Hill. While Capitol Police has temporarily closed the West Front of the Capitol due to falling branches, she anticipates it will reopen to pedestrians, and sledders, later today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today reintroduced a bill that would add the District of Columbia to the national empowerment zone program to provide federal tax incentives for businesses to locate and invest in low-income areas in the District. This bill effectively would restore many of the federal tax incentives for investment in low-income D.C. neighborhoods that a Norton bill created in 1997, but that Congress let expire in 2011. Norton’s previous tax incentives bill produced significant investment in the District. Today’s bill is particularly focused on Wards 5, 7 and 8, where the need is greatest. Norton said that since Congress continues to extend the national empowerment zone program, D.C. neighborhoods that need the incentives should be able to participate in it.