Media

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In recognition of Flag Day, Sunday June 14th, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) celebrated progress in gaining the same respect for the District of Columbia flag that state flags receive as an appropriate prelude to the vote on the House floor later this year on her D.C. statehood bill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), chair of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, who helped write the House’s new surface transportation reauthorization bill, the INVEST in America Act, today pointed out the portions of the bill that are critical for the District of Columbia.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced the District of Columbia Government Title Equality Act, which would redesignate the Mayor of the District of Columbia as the Governor, the D.C. Council as the Legislative Assembly, the D.C. Councilmembers as Representatives, and the Chair of the Council as the Speaker. These are the titles used in the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth constitution, which the District adopted in 2016 in anticipation of passage of a bill to make D.C. the 51st state.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today called on the House to add her District of Columbia Police Home Rule Act (H.R. 3092), which would repeal the President’s authority to federalize the D.C. police department, to the sweeping police reform bill the House is expected to pass soon, the Justice in Policing Act of 2020. Last week, the Trump administration contemplated federalizing the D.C. police department in response to the protests in D.C. against police brutality.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), sponsors of the District of Columbia statehood bill in the House and Senate, respectively, said the addition of new Senate and House cosponsors of the bill in the last few days undoubtedly speaks to the effect of the unprecedented occupation of the District by federal police and out-of-state troops last week. They thanked the new cosponsors, Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI), and said that the bill, which House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) reiterated last week will go to the House floor this year, already has enough cosponsors alone to pass in the House, and is cosponsored by over three quarters of Senate Democrats.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) today announced that their Federal Police Camera and Accountability Act of 2019 (H.R. 3364), which would require uniformed federal police officers to wear body cameras and have dashboard cameras in marked vehicles, was included in the House’s new sweeping police reform bill, the Justice in Policing Act of 2020. The House is expected to pass the Justice in Policing Act as soon as this month. Norton and Beyer introduced their bill after U.S. Park Police officers shot and killed 25-year-old Bijan Ghaisar, who was unarmed, in November of 2017.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) was briefed by a member of the D.C. National Guard who was on duty last Monday evening when federal police pushed aside peaceful demonstrators to allow President Trump and his staff to go to St. John’s Church for a photo op. What follows is an eyewitness account given to Norton by a National Guard member who was on duty.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today condemned Senator Mike Lee’s (R-UT) statements that District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser is “ungrateful” and “must be stopped” from allegedly “evicting” the Utah National Guard and other state guards from D.C. hotels. Norton noted that state national guards have been deployed in D.C. by state governors at the request of the federal government, without Bowser’s consent, even though Bowser, like governors, has the authority to request the assistance of out-of-state guards under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. Norton said she is not surprised by Lee’s comments because he has spent considerable time in the Senate introducing legislation to overturn local D.C. laws. Lee, who professes to support local control over local affairs, has been a chronic abuser of Congress’ anti-democratic power over D.C., introducing legislation to overturn D.C.’s occupational licensing laws and create a new D.C. Council committee on occupational licensing; to ban abortions after 20 weeks in the District; and to allow discrimination against D.C.’s LGBTQ residents. Norton has defeated all of these bills.