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August 11, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After President Trump announced that he is federalizing D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), for the first time in history, and activating the D.C. National Guard (DCNG) to address crime in the District, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that the decision is counterproductive, potentially dangerous, and an egregious assault on D.C. home rule.

August 8, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today reintroduced her bill to permanently remove the statue of Confederate General Albert Pike near Judiciary Square and authorize the Secretary of the Interior to donate it to a museum or a similar entity.  Norton said that Pike, a Confederate general who served dishonorably and was forced to resign in disgrace, represents the worst of the Confederacy and has no claim to be memorialized in the nation's capital. Norton’s bill was passed by the House Committee on Natural Resources in the 116th Congress.

August 7, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. –After President Trump suggested that Congress should repeal the D.C. Home Rule Act, threatened to federalize the D.C. Metropolitan Police and call in the D.C. National Guard to address crime, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released a statement condemning the comments and defending the right of D.C. residents to govern themselves.

August 7, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced a bill to make “blue envelope” programs, which improve interactions between police officers and drivers with difficulty communicating through speech during traffic stops, eligible for federal transportation safety funding. The programs, which allow drivers to receive a blue envelope that explains the driver’s limitations on the front and hold documents that an officer might request during a traffic stop inside, exist in many parts of the country but currently aren’t eligible for federal transportation funding. The first blue envelope program, instituted by Connecticut in 2020, was designed to aid drivers on the autism spectrum. The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) has endorsed the bill.

August 4, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. –– After the National Park Service announced today that it will restore and reinstall the bronze statue of Confederate General Albert Pike on federal land near Judiciary Square, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she will reintroduce her bill to permanently remove the statue and authorize the Secretary of the Interior to donate it to a museum or a similar entity. Although the statue was taken down by a crowd during a demonstration in June of 2020, Norton’s bill was later passed by the House Committee on Natural Resources.

July 29, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced a bill to require the Commanding General of the District of Columbia National Guard to reside in D.C. It was marked up and passed by the Committee on Oversight and Reform in 2022.

July 22, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) today introduced a bill which would remove the plaque and inscriptions bearing Francis Newlands' name from Chevy Chase Circle a federal park located in both the District of Columbia and in Maryland's 8th Congressional District, which Raskin represents. Newlands was a U.S. senator from Nevada, a conservationist and the founder of the Chevy Chase Land Company, which developed the Chevy Chase neighborhood. Newlands was also a segregationist and held racist views. The Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands held a hearing on the bill in 2022, where Norton testified that “Newlands does not deserve to be honored on federal land.”

July 21, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Committee on Appropriations marked up and passed the fiscal year 2026 (FY 26) Financial Services and General Government (FSSG) Appropriations bill tonight, which Norton said includes an outrageous and irresponsible number of anti-home rule riders. Republicans try to attach the riders to the annual D.C. spending bill to exert control over local D.C. matters, despite their positions as federal officials who do not represent D.C. residents. Significantly, the bill would halve funding for DCTAG, a program established by a 1999 Norton bill. DCTAG makes up the difference for D.C. residents between in-state and out-of-state tuition up to $10,000 at public institutions of higher education in the U.S.

July 21, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C.–– Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced her District of Columbia Courts Home Rule Act today, which would give the D.C. Council authority over the jurisdiction and organization of the local D.C. courts. The D.C. Home Rule Act expressly prohibits D.C. from enacting any law with respect to any provision of the D.C. Code that relates to the jurisdiction and organization of the local D.C. courts. Congress can give D.C. this authority even before the District becomes the 51st state.

July 20, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Committee on Appropriations today released the text of its fiscal year 2026 (FY 26) Financial Services and General Government (FSSG) Appropriations bill, which Norton said includes an outrageous number of anti-home rule riders. Republicans try to attach the riders to the annual D.C. spending bill to exert control over local D.C. matters, despite their positions as federal officials who do not represent D.C. residents. Significantly, the bill would halve funding for DCTAG, a program established by a 1999 Norton bill. DCTAG makes up the difference for D.C. residents between in-state and out-of-state tuition up to $10,000 at public institutions of higher education in the U.S.