Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she was very pleased that the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Matthew M. Graves for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Norton recommended Graves to President Biden. Biden, like Presidents Clinton and Obama, has granted Norton senatorial courtesy for judges on the U.S. District Court for D.C., the U.S. Attorney for D.C., the U.S. Marshal for the D.C. Superior Court, and the U.S. Marshal for the U.S. District Court for D.C. The U.S. Attorney for D.C. is unique because the position prosecutes both federal and most adult D.C. crimes. Norton has introduced a bill that would give D.C. the authority to prosecute all local D.C. crimes.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) can be seen on this week’s national PBS series “To The Contrary,” locally in D.C. on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. on WETA; Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on WHUT; and Saturday at 5:00 p.m. on WETA. The panel will discuss issues women face in the workplace in the year 2021, as well as the challenges women running for high elective office such as governor. Norton is a frequent panelist.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) blasted Republicans for defeating on the House floor yesterday her bill that would allow the District of Columbia to increase the pay of its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), who is paid with local D.C. funds. D.C. is currently searching for a permanent CFO. Although the CFO is the most powerful non-elected official in D.C., more than 20 D.C. employees are paid more than the CFO. D.C. must compete with both the private and public sectors for high-quality CFOs, and there are many private- and public-sector CFOs who are paid more than the D.C. CFO.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a Committee on Oversight and Reform (COR) hearing today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) highlighted how uniquely vulnerable the reproductive rights of women are in the nation’s capital because Congress has control over the District of Columbia’s local affairs. Currently, Congress prohibits D.C. from spending its local funds on abortion services for low-income women, even though 15 states use their own funds for this purpose. Norton warned that a Republican Congress could establish a Texas-style abortion bounty system in D.C., or if, Roe v. Wade were overturned, ban abortion in D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consider Teachers Act, a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate by Senator Mike Braun, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, and in the House by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and Congresswoman Victoria Spartz aimed at fixing a broken system burdening teachers with unfair loans, passed the U.S. House of Representatives today. This legislation was passed in the Senate in April and now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Chair of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, released her opening statement for today’s subcommittee hearing, titled “Examining the Role of Ferries in Improving Mobility.” The hearing began at 10:00 a.m. and is examining the role of ferry transportation in mitigating congestion and climate change, as well as the federal ferry programs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In light of the end of bipartisan, bicameral police reform legislation negotiations, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) sent letters today to President Biden, Capitol Police Board Chair Karen Gibson, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts asking that they require the use of body and dashboard cameras for police officers under their jurisdictions. Norton and Beyer introduced a bill requiring all uniformed federal police officers to use the cameras after the 2017 killing of Bijan Ghaisar by U.S. Park Police, and that bill has passed the House twice as part of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the possibility of a federal government shutdown on Friday, the start of fiscal year (FY) 2022, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today reminded District of Columbia residents that a provision she got included in the FY 2021 D.C. Appropriations bill exempts the D.C. government from a federal government shutdown in FY 2022. Norton has gotten the D.C. government exempted from federal government shutdowns each year since FY 2015.