Media

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today celebrated the announcement that the fencing around the Capitol Building grounds, erected after the January 6th attack on the Capitol, will be removed. The removal will start as soon as tomorrow and is expected to take three days. Norton has long worked to remove the fencing at the Capitol complex, both for its symbolism against open and democratic government and to restore access to roads and walkways for D.C. residents, emergency services, mail delivery, and local businesses. She also introduced a bill to prohibit federal funding from being used to install permanent fencing at the Capitol complex.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) this week recognized the six-month anniversary of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. Since the attack, Norton has introduced several bills to mitigate similar attacks in the future and to provide greater home rule for the District of Columbia. Norton called on Congress to pass these bills.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today praised the House’s fiscal year 2022 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill, which includes several large victories for the District of Columbia. The Committee on Appropriations passed the bill last week. The bill provides $40 million for the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program (DCTAG), which a Norton bill created, and, importantly, increases the DCTAG annual and lifetime awards; prohibits the president from federalizing the D.C. police department; and, in other important steps, removes the two enacted fiscal year 2021 riders, which prohibit D.C. from spending its local funds on abortion services for low-income women and on recreational marijuana commercialization, which more than a dozen states have done. The bill also provides $254 million to the General Services Administration for the Department of Homeland Security consolidation project at St. Elizabeths in Ward 8.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) reintroduced her bill today to add the Mayor of the District of Columbia to the list of principals for whom the president is required to order the nation’s flag to be flown at half-staff upon death. Current law requires the president to order the flag to be flown at half-staff “upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory.” Last Congress, the Judiciary Committee passed the bill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that as the nation celebrated 245 years since declaring its independence from Great Britain in part because of taxation without representation, the Senate must take the nation’s founding slogan to heart and pass the District of Columbia statehood bill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Chair of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, today highlighted provisions benefitting the District of Columbia she got included in the INVEST in America Act, which the House passed last week. “The INVEST in America Act is an unprecedented investment in our infrastructure, providing a 54 percent increase over the current level,” Norton said. “The bill reauthorizes for another 10 years special federal funding Metro receives for capital improvements and, importantly, increases the authorized funding level each year until it reaches $200 million.” Metro, which has been receiving $150 million per year, is particularly important for transportation in D.C. and even more so as climate change compels less reliance on cars.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Congresswoman Kathy Castor (D-FL), and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) filed bipartisan legislation to improve the federal government’s vehicle safety testing practices, specifically those involving the use of crash test dummies. The Furthering Advanced and Inclusive Research for Crash Tests Act (FAIR Crash Tests Act) would order a comprehensive Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of current federal vehicle safety tests and how those tests impact the safety of all drivers and passengers. It also requires a GAO evaluation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s failure to use crash test dummies that represent the driving public, especially women, while assessing vehicle safety through its 5-star safety rating program. Current tests fail to use crash test dummies that are representative of women, especially in the driver’s seat, even though research suggests that women have a higher likelihood of being killed or significantly injured in a car crash. Alarmingly, 8,500 women were killed in car crashes in the U.S. in 2018, with 61 percent of the women being in the driver’s seat.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Chair of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, released her House floor remarks on the INVEST in America Act, the surface transportation infrastructure bill, which Norton held write and which the House passed today.