Media

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said today she appreciates the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) action to begin to release D.C. inmates, both federal and D.C. Code offenders, from prison to home confinement pursuant to its new authority under the CARES Act, in light of the coronavirus. The BOP informed Norton that 84 D.C. inmates have been placed on home confinement under the CARES Act, of whom 59 are D.C. Code offenders and 25 are federal offenders. Norton has requested regular updates from BOP on the number of inmates released to home confinement, which the BOP has promised to provide.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following President Trump’s use of federal authority to tear gas peaceful protestors in the nation’s capital, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a veteran of the civil rights movement, today said peaceful protesters are finding ways of their own to protect themselves from blame for disruptive tactics and violence by interlopers and the police.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today called on the House to include her District of Columbia National Guard Home Rule Act, which would give the D.C. mayor control over the D.C. National Guard, in the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which the House Armed Services Committee is expected to pass as soon as this month and the House is expected to pass next month. The governors of the states and the three territories with National Guards control their respective National Guards. Currently, the President controls the D.C. National Guard. Norton also called on the House to pass her D.C. Police Home Rule Act, which would repeal the President’s authority federalize the Metropolitan Police Department.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released the following statement after President Trump’s erratic and violent evening holding a press conference in the Rose Garden while peaceful protesters were being shot with tear gas and rubber bullets nearby. After the press conference, during which his rhetoric became increasingly violent, President Trump went to nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church, which had been damaged by rioting the night before. When he arrived, the President held up a Bible and stood for photos.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL) and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), co-chairs of the longstanding Congressional Caucus on Black Men and Boys, said that the police killing of George Floyd compels congressional hearings on police reform, criminal justice, and needed legislation. However, they said that those are not enough. They will hold a Caucus hearing to hear directly from the African American community on the state of justice in America for African American men and boys following the killing of Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by white police officers and of Ahmaud Arbery, an African American jogger killed by two armed white men in Georgia. In both cases videos exposed attacks, marking a new era for seeking racial justice.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said a critical, bipartisan bill passed by the House yesterday would deliver much-needed relief for District of Columbia small businesses. The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act, of which Norton is a cosponsor, would addresses urgent issues with the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) facing small businesses in D.C. and across the country, which are the businesses struggling the most as a result of the coronavirus.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a past chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, today said that the findings of a report by Protect Our Defenders (POD), a national organization dedicated to ending rape, sexual assault, misogyny, sexual harassment, and retribution in the military, has broken new ground for congressional oversight on equal treatment. The POD report found the Air Force (USAF) had suppressed data showing “substantial” and “persistent” racial disparities in its military justice system that appear to be system-wide in the armed forces.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) noted today that the United States Parole Commission (USPC) has reduced the danger to inmates and staff by releasing people under its jurisdiction in custody, including releasing half of its inmates at the District of Columbia’s Central Detention Facility and Correctional Treatment Facility since March 19, 2020. However, Norton continues to request that USPC release those appropriate for release under its jurisdiction to reduce inevitable exposure to COVID-19 in tight, crowded spaces. Norton has pressed for the release of D.C. residents incarcerated under federal jurisdiction during the coronavirus, consistent with public safety, because the risk of transmission is much higher in jails and prisons. Most of USPC’s population consists of D.C. Code felons.