Media

WASHINGTON, DC – As the House began debate on the farm bill today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) joined as a cosponsor of Representative James McGovern's (D-MA) amendment to restore the $20.5 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, in the House Republican's proposed farm bill. The amendment is expected to draw many members to the House floor, many of whom, like Norton, joined the SNAP Challenge – to eat on a food stamp budget of $31.50 for the week.

WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today thanked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for his forceful and unequivocal call for Congress to grant the District of Columbia statehood during his remarks at today's unveiling of D.C.'s Frederick Douglass statue in the U.S. Capitol. At the ceremony for D.C.'s first statue in the Capitol, which joins statues from the 50 states, Reid also announced that he had become a cosponsor, a rare act for a Majority Leader, yesterday of the Senate companion to Norton's D.C. statehood bill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Nettie Douglass, the great-great granddaughter of Frederick Douglass, spoke, along with Vice President Joe Biden, House and Senate leaders and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, at 11:00 a.m., in the Capitol's Emancipation Hall at the unveiling of the District of Columbia's Frederick Douglass statue. After a decade-plus fight by Norton, the District, for the first time, joins the 50 states with a statue in the Capitol.

Norton's remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow.

WASHINGTON, DC – On the anniversary of the start of the War of 1812, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced the National Patriots Memorial Act, to authorize the establishment of a memorial on federal land in the District of Columbia to honor the patriots of the War of 1812, including those who fought in the streets of the District, the patriots of the Revolutionary War, and America's international allies that also fought in support of U.S. freedom during those wars. No federal funds may be used for the memorial.

WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today applauded the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith (D-WA), for including the District of Columbia, along with the 50 states, in an amendment he offered to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 to establish a Commission on Service to the Nation. The inclusion of the District in the amendment, which Smith introduced during his committee's markup of the bill, came without prompting from Norton.

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said she appreciated the Congressional leadership for inviting Vice President Joe Biden to speak at the unveiling ceremony of D.C.'s Frederick Douglass statue in the Capitol's Emancipation Hall on Wednesday, June 19, 2013. The ceremony marks the culmination of Norton's bill, which she fought for through repeated Congresses, to allow the District of Columbia, like the states, to have its own statue in the United States Capitol.

WASHINGTON, DC – The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced today that Norton will host a special event for District of Columbia residents and officials to welcome D.C.'s Frederick Douglass statue to the United States Capitol. The official unveiling ceremony this Wednesday is an invitation-only event sponsored by House and Senate leadership, with limited capacity, but Norton is planning a counterpart to the sendoff she held for the Douglass statue last February at One Judiciary Square in the Capitol after the unveiling that will be open to all D.C. residents.

WASHINGTON, DC – The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that her Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission is accepting applications for an upcoming opening on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Applications for the opening are due in 30 days, on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. Chief Justice John G. Roberts has appointed U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge John D. Bates as the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.