Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) reintroduced their Women Who Worked on the Home Front World War II Memorial Act today. The idea behind the bill came from D.C. resident Raya Kenney, when she was 13 years old. Raya wanted to honor the 18 million American women who kept the home front running during World War II, performing tasks previously undertaken by men. This bill passed in the House last year and Senator Duckworth is the sponsor of its Senate companion bill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she greatly appreciated the letter that a large group of leading constitutional law professors recently sent to House and Senate leadership supporting the constitutionality of the D.C. statehood bill. “This group of influential scholars laid out the definitive case for the constitutionality of our D.C. statehood bill,” Norton said. “The letter in clear language very effectively conveys that there is no constitutional barrier to admitting D.C. as a state, especially given that the bill retains a reduced federal district that will still serve as the nation’s capital. I thank these constitutional law professors for offering a convincing analysis that carries great weight.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that she will hold a virtual roundtable via Zoom on fencing at the Capitol complex on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. The roundtable will feature four expert panelists: architect Thomas Vonier, former Commanding General of the D.C. National Guard Major General Errol Schwartz, landscape architect Faye Harwell, and president and CEO of the National Association for Olmsted Parks Dede Petri.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released a statement celebrating House passage on Wednesday of the National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act (H.R. 3233), which is similar to a bill (H.R. 410) she introduced on January 21, 2021.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released a statement today thanking the Democrats on the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration for defeating an anti-District of Columbia statehood amendment during the markup of the For the People Act (S. 1) on May 11, 2021. Republicans offered an amendment that would have changed findings in the bill from supporting D.C. statehood to opposing it. The amendment was defeated on a party-line vote.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced the relaunch of the D.C. Veterans Oral History Project today with the Library of Congress. The project collects the service stories of D.C. veterans and archives them with the Library of Congress. Veterans from D.C. are invited to share their service stories to help preserve their history. Any veteran may participate. Stories will be recorded via Zoom and archived with the Library of Congress.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) spoke yesterday at the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, for which she got the bulk of the funding, at an infrastructure event with U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Norton said the bridge is “the most important bridge in the nation’s capital,” connecting the city’s wards and serving “as the connective tissue that holds our city and our region together.” Her remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that the Emergency Security Supplemental to Respond to January 6th Appropriations Act, passed by the House today, contains victories for the District of Columbia she sought. The bill provides D.C. $66.7 million to eliminate the long-running deficit in the federally funded D.C. Emergency Planning and Security Fund (EPSF), prohibits the use of funds in the bill to install permanent above-ground fencing at the Capitol complex, and requires Capitol Police officers to wear body cameras. In February, Norton introduced the No Fencing at the United States Capitol Complex Act, which would prohibit the use of funds to install permanent fencing at the Capitol complex. In March, the House passed her Federal Police Camera and Accountability Act, which would require federal police officers to wear body cameras and use dashboard cameras, as part of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.