Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) sent a letter to the Acting Director of the National Park Service (NPS) in support of District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request that NPS cancel all Public Gathering Permits and deny any application for Public Gathering Permits in the District until January 24, 2021, when all presidential inauguration activities are complete. Norton also sent a separate letter requesting that NPS clear new campsites on its property and arrest individuals for gun violations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) announced today that they will reintroduce their Federal Police Camera and Accountability Act, which would require uniformed federal police officers, including U.S. Capitol Police, to wear body cameras and have dashboard cameras in police vehicles. Last Congress, their bill was included in the House-passed George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020. The District of Columbia and Fairfax County both require officers to wear body cameras and have dashboard cameras in marked vehicles.

WASHINGTON, D.C — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today reintroduced her bill to give D.C. control over local prosecutions to protect public safety in D.C. Although she has introduced the bill before, she says it is particularly important now to give the District control over local prosecutions in light of last week’s attacks on the Capitol. With Democrats controlling the majority in both chambers of Congress, Norton believes she can get this bill enacted.

WASHINGTON, D.C—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) today reiterated their call for Congress to fully fund the District of Columbia emergency planning and security fund (EPSF) in the future, including the $80 million the EPSF was shortchanged in the enacted fiscal year (FY) 2021 D.C. Appropriations bill. During the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week, U.S. Capitol Police requested the assistance of D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and MPD’s overwhelming response helped save the U.S. Capitol and the lives of Members of Congress, staff and employees, and end an insurrection.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today called on the House and Senate to pass a resolution censuring President Trump for an attempted coup in trying to overturn the results of the presidential election and incitement of insurrection for the attack on the U.S. Capitol last week. Norton, who has also cosponsored several impeachment resolutions since the attack on the Capitol, said censure is the only remedy that can pass both chambers immediately and, unlike impeachment, will not delay President-elect Biden’s agenda in the Senate. Norton will introduce the censure resolution on Monday. Although Congress has never adopted a bicameral resolution censuring a president, Norton says that there has also never been a president who has led an attempted coup in our country, and that both Democrats and Republicans show a thirst for an immediate response.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) said that Wednesday’s attack on the U.S. Capitol demonstrated once again that local public safety in the District of Columbia (D.C.) is subject to the whim of the President and that it is past time for Congress, pending D.C. statehood, to pass legislation to give the District’s mayor control over the D.C. National Guard and to repeal the President’s authority to federalize the D.C. police department. The Members of Congress will soon reintroduce the “District of Columbia National Guard Home Rule Act” and the “District of Columbia Police Home Rule Act” to do so.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that she will introduce a bill to establish a national commission, based on the 9/11 Commission, to provide a complete account surrounding the attack on the U.S. Capitol yesterday, including preparedness and response. The commission would also provide recommendations to protect against future attacks.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced today that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington have agreed to her request to hold a public forum on the proposed rule restricting public access to the Washington Channel and to extend the public comment period on the proposed rule. The public forum will take place on January 27, 2021, at 6:00 p.m., and the public comment period on the proposed rule has been extended from December 29, 2020, to January 28, 2021. USACE previously extended the comment period on the rule after Norton argued that the original comment period did not allow adequate time for public input. Norton spoke personally with Major General Omar Jones, Commanding General of Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region, and he responded yesterday.