Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) reintroduced her bill today to add the Mayor of the District of Columbia to the list of principals for whom the president is required to order the nation’s flag to be flown at half-staff upon death. Current law requires the president to order the flag to be flown at half-staff “upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory.” Last Congress, the Judiciary Committee passed the bill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that as the nation celebrated 245 years since declaring its independence from Great Britain in part because of taxation without representation, the Senate must take the nation’s founding slogan to heart and pass the District of Columbia statehood bill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Chair of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, today highlighted provisions benefitting the District of Columbia she got included in the INVEST in America Act, which the House passed last week. “The INVEST in America Act is an unprecedented investment in our infrastructure, providing a 54 percent increase over the current level,” Norton said. “The bill reauthorizes for another 10 years special federal funding Metro receives for capital improvements and, importantly, increases the authorized funding level each year until it reaches $200 million.” Metro, which has been receiving $150 million per year, is particularly important for transportation in D.C. and even more so as climate change compels less reliance on cars.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Congresswoman Kathy Castor (D-FL), and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) filed bipartisan legislation to improve the federal government’s vehicle safety testing practices, specifically those involving the use of crash test dummies. The Furthering Advanced and Inclusive Research for Crash Tests Act (FAIR Crash Tests Act) would order a comprehensive Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of current federal vehicle safety tests and how those tests impact the safety of all drivers and passengers. It also requires a GAO evaluation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s failure to use crash test dummies that represent the driving public, especially women, while assessing vehicle safety through its 5-star safety rating program. Current tests fail to use crash test dummies that are representative of women, especially in the driver’s seat, even though research suggests that women have a higher likelihood of being killed or significantly injured in a car crash. Alarmingly, 8,500 women were killed in car crashes in the U.S. in 2018, with 61 percent of the women being in the driver’s seat.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Chair of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, released her House floor remarks on the INVEST in America Act, the surface transportation infrastructure bill, which Norton held write and which the House passed today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today thanked the dozens of national and local groups, led by DC Vote, that sent a letter yesterday to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees opposing any anti-home-rule riders on the fiscal year 2022 D.C. Appropriations bill. Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee passed the bill, which did not contain any anti-home-rule riders.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will visit Martha’s Table, a Head Start facility, tomorrow with Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and Director of the Office of Head Start, Dr. Bernadine Futrell, tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. to announce the distribution of funding from the American Rescue Plan.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that the Committee on Oversight and Reform today passed her D.C. Chief Financial Officer Salary Home Rule Act, which would eliminate the cap on the pay of the D.C. Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and her D.C. Local Juror Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination against jurors in the D.C. Superior Court based on sexual orientation and gender identity.