Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) got major wins for the District of Columbia topped by maintaining the record $40 million for the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program (DCTAG) in the fiscal year 2018 omnibus appropriations bill last night. Norton fiercely negotiated to maintain $40 million for DCTAG, a historic increase she has now secured for three years in a row, overcoming only $30 million in the House, Senate and White House’s fiscal year 2018 D.C. appropriations proposals.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that, as part of her fight to protect the District of Columbia’s right to self-government, as well as LGBT and reproductive rights in D.C., she would introduce a bill to end the unique applicability of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) to the District. RFRA, which provides more protection for religious exercise than the First Amendment, applies to the federal government, D.C. government and the territorial governments, but not state governments.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, called on the committee to hold a hearing on rail safety in light of recent accidents, including today’s fatal accident involving an Amtrak train colliding with a garbage truck in southern Virginia, as well as the derailment of an Amtrak train outside of Seattle, which killed five people.

A $488,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) and member institution, The First, A National Banking Association (The First), will rehabilitate 72 homes in Laurel, Mississippi. Local dignitaries yesterday joined bank and project representatives at a check presentation ceremony at the office of Laurel Mayor Johnny Magee to award the funds.

The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today apparent Norton’s letter to Senate Sergeant at Arms Frank J. Larkin requesting he reconsider his purported opposition to the construction of a protected bike lane between Union Station and the U.S. Capitol Grounds on Louisiana Avenue. Norton has worked with Architect of the Capitol, the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, and the local biking community to achieve widespread support for the project, to be built using local funds in DDOT’s MoveDC action plan for D.C.’s transportation future

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that in one of the great ironies of the onerous District of Columbia budget process, D.C. residents can prepay their 2018 property taxes by December 31, 2017, to avoid the $10,000 state and local tax deduction cap that takes effect next year.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will commemorate the 44th anniversary of the enactment of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act this month, beginning with a floor speech tomorrow, Tuesday, December 11, 2017, at 10:00 a.m., and another speech planned for next week.  Norton will not only review the history of the Home Rule Act, which was signed into law by Republican President Richard Nixon on December 24, 1973, she will use the occasion to expose the repeated attempts by Republican Members, who violate their local control principles, to overturn local D.C. laws. 

One of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s (D-DC) top construction priorities, the Memorial Bridge, which is owned and maintained by the National Park Service (NPS), now has the total funds necessary to complete repairs, Norton said today. Norton, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, worked to secure $90 million for phase one funding from the Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies (FASTLANE) program in fiscal year 2016.

The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that the Republican Senate fiscal year 2018 District of Columbia appropriations bill does not contain any anti-home-rule riders, exempts D.C. from a shutdown in fiscal year 2019, and provides funds for many of Norton’s legislative priorities. Unlike in past years, the bill was released by the Senate Appropriations Committee before being marked up by the committee, likely signaling the committee will not mark up the bill and it instead will be used as the basis for negotiations with the House on any final spending bill.

Because District of Columbia veterans uniquely serve without a vote in Congress, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) took two actions to commemorate Veterans Day, which is on Saturday, November 11, 2017.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), ranking member of the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee, yesterday at a subcommittee hearing on building a 21st century infrastructure asked key stakeholders about increasing incentives for state and local governments, such as the District of Columbia, that move ahead on infrastructure projects without always waiting for full federal transportation and infrastructure funding.

The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that Norton’s bill to clarify that the District of Columbia and the National Park Service (NPS) have the authority to enter into cooperative management agreements to maintain and operate NPS properties in the city, such as Franklin Park, was passed today by the House Natural Resources Committee

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who asked the U.S. State Department to address a growing number of buildings owned by foreign governments in the District of Columbia that have been vacated and fallen into poor condition, released the U.S. State Department Office of Foreign Missions’ (OFM) response to her letter, which shows heightened progress on a number of these properties.

As an Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee hearing yesterday on 21st Century Infrastructure quickly became chiefly devoted to the impacts of recent hurricanes, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) raised the increasing importance of finding ways to improve investments in pre-disaster infrastructure

Although the fiscal year 2018 D.C. Appropriations bill passed by the House today contains five anti-home-rule riders, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she believes she will be able to keep most of them out of the final spending bill, which must be passed by December 8. The Senate version of the fiscal year 2018 D.C. Appropriations bill has not been introduced, but even under Republican control the last two fiscal years, the bill has contained zero anti-home-rule riders

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s (D-DC) home-rule provision to change a 1958 law that treated the District of Columbia government as a part of the federal government, as it was then, was included in a bill passed today by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (OGR).

The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that Norton will speak on the House floor this evening on two of her amendments that were made in order by the House Rules Committee to the fiscal year 2018 appropriations bills—her amendment to strike the anti-home-rule rider that repeals the District of Columbia’s budget autonomy referendum and her amendment to prohibit the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) from carrying out the law that requires individuals in halfway houses and on home confinement to pay a subsistence fee to offset the cost of being housed or supervised.

The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that the House Rules Committee is scheduled to consider amendments to the fiscal year 2018 Transportation, Housing And Urban Development Appropriations bill, including her amendments to prohibit states that receive federal transportation funding from engaging in unconstitutional profiling based on physical characteristics and another to increase funding for Section 8 tenant-based vouchers by 1 percent, or $187 million, today, Tuesday, September 5, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. in H-312 (U.S. Capitol).

The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that the House Rules Committee is scheduled to consider amendments to the fiscal year 2018 District of Columbia Appropriations bill, including Norton’s amendments to strike all four anti-home-rule riders from the bill, during a markup tomorrow, Wednesday, September 6, 2017, in H-312 (U.S. Capitol).

Faced with the almost-disappearance of affordable housing in the District of Columbia and across the nation, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) filed an amendment to the fiscal year 2018 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations (THUD) bill to increase the funding for Section 8 tenant-based vouchers by 1 percent, or $187 million, which would translate into approximately 21,000 new housing vouchers. Recipients use the vouchers to reduce their rents in private apartments.