Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released the following statement after Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) today asked for unanimous consent (UC) on the Senate floor to pass his resolution (S.J.Res. 7) disapproving the District of Columbia’s Minor Consent for Vaccinations Amendment Act of 2020, which would permit minors capable of informed consent to receive a vaccine without parental consent. Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) objected to the UC request and therefore the request was denied.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) reintroduced the Securities and Exchange Commission Real Estate Leasing Authority Revocation Act, which would revoke the real estate leasing authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The leasing authority would be returned to the General Services Administration (GSA), the federal government’s real estate arm.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today condemned a bill introduced by Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) that would permanently prohibit the District of Columbia from spending its local funds that have been approved by Congress on abortion services for low-income women. Norton said she will work to ensure the bill is not taken up in the House.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she was pleased with the response she received from the Department of Defense (DoD) to her letter requesting that DoD Secretary Lloyd J. Austin direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to withdraw the proposed rule restricting public access to the Washington Channel. DoD said the rule would not be finalized until an agency head appointed by President Biden reviews the rule. Norton has advocated keeping the channel open, especially during the pandemic, when outdoor activities are preferable. Norton hosted a public meeting on January 27th, where D.C. residents overwhelmingly opposed the rule. Norton will introduce a bill to block the proposed rule and to prohibit any rule that would restrict public access to the channel.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that her District of Columbia priorities were included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which the House passed today. The $1.9 trillion bill includes provisions uniquely vital to the District, including state-, city-, and county-level fiscal relief for the District, since D.C. provides each level of service, and $755 million in retroactive CARES Act fiscal relief to fix D.C.’s treatment as a territory instead of a state for fiscal relief in the CARES Act, considering that D.C. is almost always treated as a state for federal funding. The bill provides D.C. an estimated $2.2 billion in fiscal relief.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As co-chair of the Quiet Skies Caucus, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today sent a letter to Acting Director of the National Park Service (NPS) Shawn Benge asking that NPS helicopters in the District of Columbia fly at higher altitudes, limit nighttime flights, limit flights over residential areas, and provide advance notice of prolonged training missions in a particular area.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today sent a letter to Acting Chief of the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Yogananda Pittman asking that USCP enforce the prohibition against engine idling for more than three minutes at the Capitol complex. Congressional staff often idle their car engines outside the Capitol while waiting for their Members of Congress to exit.

Washington, D.C. -- Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Chair of the House Subcommittee on Government Operations (D-VA), and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Chair of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, released the following statement on the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General report on the mammography program at the Washington DC VA Medical Center.