Norton Reports Victories that Fostered Her High Rankings in the 110^th Congress as She Takes on Leadership Role in Economic Recovery in the 111^th

As Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), chair of a major public works subcommittee, prepares to play a leading role in legislation to revive the economy, her office today released the Congresswoman's annual report to her constituents describing what she accomplished in the 110^th Congress, and her major goals for the 111^th.   

Norton's Fast Start in the New Majority Brings High Rankings

Norton moved quickly in her first year in the House majority in 12 years to maximize the opportunities presented by her new subcommittee chairmanship and her seniority, with results that won her the high rankings of 16^th in "legislative power" and 19^th "most influential" in the House.  Among the successes that led to her high rankings were: passing her D.C. House Voting Rights Act in the House; restoring D.C.'s House floor vote in the Committee of the Whole; renewing her bill for federally-funded college tuition assistance, available to all D.C. students; and lifting the notorious bans on the use of D.C. funds for needle exchange and for lobbying Congress for voting rights.  Norton's Edward William Brooke III Congressional Gold Medal Act, to honor the first African American U.S. Senator elected by popular vote, served not only to honor a historic national figure who grew up in D.C. without a vote, but also highlighted the necessity of giving the congressional vote to the city's citizens.  President-elect Barack Obama, a co-sponsor of both the Brooke bill and the D.C. House Voting Rights Act, is expected to attend the presentation of the gold medal to Brooke early next year.   

            Before the 110^th session was over, the president had signed 20 of Norton's bills, among the most important, the $5,000 homebuyer and small business tax credits that she struggled to get reauthorized as the recession deepened; the first funds for construction of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters, to be located in Ward 8; her major environmental bill, which is the first comprehensive legislation to restore D.C.'s neighborhood river, the Anacostia; a bill to overcome the administration's resistance to allowing renovation of the historic Old Post Office Pavilion for a revenue-producing development; funds for Eastern Market renovations; and two new permanent education funding streams, one for the University of the District of Columbia and another for its law school.

As the D.C. City Council was re-writing its gun laws under a Supreme Court mandate, Norton outmaneuvered a last minute National Rifle Association (NRA) - inspired gun bill by introducing her own bill, and getting a hearing to expose the risks of the NRA bill to both D.C. and to the federal presence. Certain from the beginning that conservative Democratic support guaranteed House passage of the NRA bill, Norton simultaneously worked with senators to ensure that the NRA bill would be dead-on-arrival in the Senate.   

            Norton used her role as a new subcommittee chair to quickly assert oversight and produce legislation for the major agencies under her jurisdiction - the General Services Administration (GSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Economic Development Administration (EDA). She held 33 hearings, 7 more than any other subcommittee under the full committee, and got major provisions into the first comprehensive energy conservation bill enacted in decades. She led the subcommittee in producing sections for H.R.1, which enacted the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, in passing two new bills necessary in the wake of FEMA's failures with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Act to help jurisdictions throughout the U.S. reduce the effects of disasters, and in authorizing five economic development commissions. These and other 110^th Congress goals that were reached, especially new economic, health, security, transportation and criminal justice legislation, are detailed in this report to constituents. 

Setting the Bar High for the 111^th

            The Congresswoman is preparing for a session that offers her  a new leadership role in the revival of the economy, and the opportunity to overcome old barriers to congressional voting rights and democratic self-government for the District of Columbia. The stars aligned on Nov. 4^th when a Democratic president and larger Democratic majorities were elected to the House and Senate, particularly for Norton's bills for full self-governing powers for the District of Columbia and equal treatment for its residents, as citizens, on the one hand and for her ambitious goals for her subcommittee on the other, especially legislation to revive the national and local economy. 

For the District, Norton will seek a clean sweep with passage of the most important bills in the Free and Equal D.C. Series -- particularly the D.C. House Voting Rights Act, budget and legislative autonomy, elimination of all remaining anti-home rule riders, and the first substantial revision of the 1974 Home Rule Act since its enactment -- to eliminate congressional interference by completing the city's transformation to full self-government.

            Of major importance next session will be Norton's role as chair of a major public works subcommittee in the House, which will give her a unique opportunity to help revive the District economy and reboot economic development here, as part of the national effort to overcome an ever-deepening recession and growing unemployment.  She will use her subcommittee's primary public works jurisdiction over the upcoming economic recovery bill to generate jobs in construction, to lead by example environmentally with a major greening effort here and elsewhere, to focus on new public works targets, such as the repair and rehabilitation of GSA inventory, of the National Park Service - network of neighborhood parks here, and of other federal property, as well as to increase funding for D.C. public works, such as D.C. Public School buildings, the combined sewer system, and especially the DHS headquarters, a compound made up of five agencies, which is the most important federal construction in the country and will generate ongoing development and jobs for a decade.

            In the subcommittee Norton chairs, she will reauthorize GSA for the first time since it was established, and begin the wholesale reform of the agency to save taxpayer funds, produce revenue, and reduce its inefficiency. She will reorient FEMA to its critical mission to prepare the country for natural disasters, where the great bulk of the agency's efforts goes each year, without neglect of its important new focus on terrorism. Hurricane Katrina dramatically pointed out the risks to the nation of transferring FEMA to DHS, where FEMA's resources and focus turned so centrally to preparing for terrorist events that it lost its focus on predictable disasters such as hurricanes, floods and tornadoes.

Goals for the 111^th - Freedom, Democracy and Economic Recovery

D.C. Charter Reform: Making the District of Columbia an Independent, Self-Governing Jurisdiction

Completing What the Home Rule Charter Started

Norton will introduce the first substantial revision of the Charter since 1974 to give D.C. the freedom to govern itself on local matters.  She wants to take full advantage of the combination of a new Democratic president and an expanded Democratic majority to achieve wholesale, rather than piecemeal, reform of the Home Rule Act, which gave the District only partial home rule.  Some large missing pieces of the District's home-rule government, such as budget and legislative autonomy, require priority attention with individual bills that Norton will introduce in the 111^th Congress.  However, the path-breaking Home Rule Act that provided the District with its first permanently elected government is replete with many other significant remnants of the old regime.  For example, because the public schools are covered in the Charter, the city's 2007 school reform required the Congresswoman to introduce legislation after the reform bill was passed by the city council and signed by the mayor.  The opening of school was only a few months away, but school reform was delayed while Norton worked with three senators to remove holds on the bill unrelated to school reform. 

Removing All Riders

Norton's first step in Charter reform will be to wipe the slate clean by seeking removal of all remaining riders.  Her success in lifting the bans on using D.C. funds for needle exchange and for lobbying for voting rights were good starts, but others also must be removed.  For example, the prohibition on the use of D.C. funds to pay for abortions for poor women is the most important, while language that limits the use of federal funds for domestic partnerships and similar purposes is unnecessary because no jurisdiction can use federal funds for such purposes. 

Freeing D.C. with More "Free and Equal D.C. Series" Bills

The new president and expanded Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress bring together the necessary ingredients for Norton's "Free and Equal D.C. Series" of bills, beginning with D.C. congressional voting rights and moving quickly to the rest of the series, to eliminate anti-home rule or redundant restrictions that deprive D.C. residents of democratic self-government.

Senate Voting Rights Bill Co-Sponsor Barack Obama Expected to Sign First Vote for D.C. as President

The D.C. House Voting Rights Act will be simultaneously introduced in the House and the Senate on January 6th, the first day of the 111^th Congress. Norton has asked for an early vote in celebration of the February 12^th bicentennial of Lincoln's birth and the centennial of the NAACP's founding, as suggested by

Wade Henderson, the CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the leading coalition for the bill.

The signature of the new president, who was a Senate co-sponsor of the bill in the 110^th Congress, is virtually assured. The bill easily passed in the House in 2007, and now has an estimated 65 votes in the Senate, considerably more than the 60 needed.  The addition of seven Democratic senators, who replaced seven Republican opponents of the bill, together with the eight remaining Republicans who supported the bill, should assure that the bill has significantly more than the 57 Senate votes it received in 2007.

Multiple Gains Will Come With Budget Autonomy

Next to voting rights, Norton's Budget Autonomy Act is her second highest priority in the 111^th Congress.  Now is the time to abolish the entire patronizing and often degrading spectacle of members of Congress annually debating and enacting a local budget.  Moreover, as a practical matter, permitting the city's budget to become law without coming to Congress would have multiple and immediate benefits for both the city and Congress.  Among the financial benefits for the city is eliminating added costs in the credit markets due to the extra layer of congressional approval.  Many important local operational improvements also would be possible, especially for schools, if the city could use the typical state government July 1^st fiscal year instead of the congressional fiscal year, which starts in October, after the school year has begun.  The Congresswoman is certain that all concerned, regardless of party, share the frustration that comes with formal consideration of a city budget, devoid of federal content, that only benefits the few members who use the D.C. appropriations to force votes on ideological riders.

Seizing on this frustration when she was in the minority, Norton achieved several reforms for D.C. appropriations, especially eliminating the additional mid-year consideration of the D.C. budget and developing a procedure that now guarantees approval of the D.C. budget by October 1^st instead of waiting months for the full federal appropriations to emerge.  Norton appreciates the appropriators who brought the city this far.  However, the next session is the year to go the full distance by achieving budget autonomy itself.

Legislative Autonomy: Ending Needless and Phantom Congressional Review

            Norton will reintroduce the D.C. Legislative Autonomy Act to end the antiquated system of unnecessary congressional holds on all D.C. legislation, often for months, forcing the City Council to pass most legislation using a byzantine process of successive temporary bills.  This legislative nightmare is supposed to hold D.C. bills so Congress may overturn them, but in the few instances when Congress has invalidated Council bills, it has found quicker and easier ways to do so than the formal disapproval process.  Norton, of course, believes that Congress has no business using any means to interfere with legitimate local legislation, but it is absurd to compel the District to use a procedure that Congress discarded for itself years ago.

An Elected District Attorney Vital for Team Work for Public Safety

In the 110^th Congress, Norton got a hearing on a bill she will reintroduce in the 111^th Congress to allow District residents to elect an independent district attorney, eliminating the local role of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, who has always prosecuted local criminal cases for the city.  Norton's bill is reinforced and validated by a city referendum preferring a district attorney.

A Home Rule Hatch Act for the District

Norton will reintroduce a bill to permit D.C. to adopt its own local Hatch Act, which prohibits some public employees from participating in certain political activities.  D.C. is the only local jurisdiction covered by the federal Hatch Act, a pre-Home Rule Act anachronism that should have been eliminated after passage of the Home Rule Act allowed D.C. to pass its own laws. 

Carrying the Most Costly State Program without a State Tax Base

Norton will reintroduce a bill to require the federal government to assume a greater portion of the District's Medicaid costs until D.C. becomes a state. The Revitalization Act relieved the District of some state costs but left many others in place, including the ever-rising costs of Medicaid.

National Guard Home Rule

Norton will reintroduce the D.C. National Guard Equality Act to give the mayor the same authority as governors to call up the Guard for natural disasters.  Today, the president and his subordinates, who control the D.C. National Guard, have more important things to do than to consider whether to deploy the Guard for neighborhood floods and other natural disasters.

The Right Place for D.C.'s Statue in the Capitol

Norton's bill to permit statues in the Capitol honoring District of Columbia citizens is particularly ripe today, considering the expanded space in the recently opened Capitol Visitor Center (CVC).  Commentators have noted recently that the CVC has no statues of African Americans in its Emancipation Hall.  District residents have chosen Frederick Douglas for one of their statues for the Capitol, yet it sits in the Wilson Building awaiting a home in the Capitol.  Norton believes that the standing of Douglas as a historic American figure, as well as a Washingtonian, will help her get the D.C. statue bill done this session.

Making the U.S. Parole Commission Serve Residents

After getting a three-year reauthorization this year, Norton will seek to permanently reauthorize the U.S. Parole Commission, a federal agency whose major mission today is the supervised release of D.C. Code felons, now housed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).  Norton will offer evidence that short-term reauthorizations have been destabilizing to the commission and unfair to D.C. Code felons, the courts and the commission itself.  As part of her effort to make the commission permanent, Norton also will seek wholesale revision of antiquated and counterproductive commission procedures that were designed for federal, rather than D.C. Code, felons.  For example, administrative changes already underway show that a sanction and incentive system is more effective in altering behavior and reducing recidivism than sole reliance on parole revocations, many of which result from infractions, such as the failure to meet with parole officers or failed drug tests, not from serious criminal acts.  Norton earlier worked with the appropriations committee to get funding for the new Reentry and Sanctions Center, near the D.C. jail, whose success has shown the link between drug treatment and reduced recidivism. 

Norton's Lead Role in the Upcoming Economic Recovery Stimulus Package Gives Her a Special Opportunity to Generate Jobs and Restart D.C. Economic Development

Major Opportunities from Crisis Emerge for the District with Aging Federal and Local Infrastructure

Norton, who chairs the subcommittee responsible for constructing and maintaining federal buildings and sits, as a senior member, on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is one of the congressional leaders now developing the $850 million stimulus package.  She plans to use the combination of the upcoming stimulus package and the reauthorization of the highways and transportation bill to help revive development and construction and to reduce mounting unemployment in D.C.  Because Congress will use public works projects as the main stimulus for the economy, the District, with its high concentration of federal buildings and its aging local infrastructure, could benefit significantly in terms of jobs, revenue and improvements to facilities that attract tourists.

            Norton's goal is to use the large federal building inventory here, and her chairmanship, to make D.C. a showplace for stimulus projects that quickly provide jobs. She will further the "Greening D.C." initiative she began last session by using public works legislation to make real headway on climate change and energy conservation. She wants early funding for smaller projects, such as the repair of existing federal buildings, to create jobs in the shortest time frame for residents with many kinds of skills, including not only construction workers, but also many others, especially minorities and women, who often are not typical construction workers. Obama, under pressure to create jobs, also is prioritizing the repair of existing structures to get money circulating and jobs going even faster than from new or longer-term construction projects, which also will be funded. Candidates for smaller repair projects here include D.C. public school buildings and the city's storm water overflow system, built by the federal government more than a century ago, which pollutes the Anacostia River,  with $484 million in ready-to-go projects, creating almost 300 jobs.  In urgent need of attention also are local rehabilitation projects that are overdue for federal buildings on Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, all constructed as public works during the depression of the 1930's to stimulate jobs and provide space for government agencies.  Attention also is needed for historic structures here like the various Smithsonian museums, where low-funding priority has left a backlog of billions of dollars in infrastructure needs.

D.C.'s Neighborhood Parks: Central Sites in the Deteriorating Federal Infrastructure

            Norton will seek stimulus funds for D.C.'s National Park Service-owned neighborhood parks, based on her August tour of parks in every ward. Norton's report on the tour is a virtual public works agenda of repair and rehabilitation projects in all eight wards.

Quick First Steps Makeover for the National Mall

To draw attention to lighting and other problems that led to muggings on the Mall in 2006, Norton has regularly toured and monitored the Mall to check for lighting problems and other deterioration.  Ready-to-go projects that would jump-start the first steps toward a people-friendly Mall were presented in her Mall Designation and Revitalization Act, which she will reintroduce.  The bill requires several immediate and low-cost steps to increase visitor enjoyment, such as creating new shady areas for café-type tables and chairs for federal employees, tourists, and residents to eat lunch, rehabilitating existing restrooms, and installing flush-toilet restrooms where there are no facilities.  The Norton bill envisions free jazz, string quartet and similar entertainment during lunch hours, and directs the Secretary of the Interior to develop the program. 

Among other ready-to-go Mall proposals are repairing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ($25 million) and repairing and landscaping the Grant Memorial at the foot of the Capitol ($3 million).

Making D.C.'s Golf Courses Work for the Economy with Returns to the Federal Government

Norton will focus again on three National Park Service recreational jewels, on D.C.'s three underused and undervalued public golf courses, which have revenue potential. With a new president and Congress focusing on public works, she will reintroduce her bill for a public-private partnership for long-overdue improvements at Langston, Rock Creek and East Potomac, which residents have long sought and which the District's tourist economy needs.

Victories Come on Many Fronts in the 110^th

Norton's New Chairmanship and Seniority Yield Gains for Economic Development in the District

Norton's decision to build seniority on a major economic development subcommittee and to become its chair has been vindicated by the many opportunities she has had to bring economic development projects to the city, as this year's results show.

First Dollars for DHS Conjured in Ward 8

This year, Norton got the first $100 million for the DHS headquarters on St. Elizabeth's West campus, in time for the final Master Plan approval due early next year. Her goal is to break ground next year, beginning a decade-long building boom for the compound of several agencies in Anacostia, just in time to tamp down rising D.C. unemployment and to help reverse a development drought caused by the worldwide financial crisis. Funding for the first building is already in a proposed stimulus package.

Victories for Development and Tourism in D.C.

Old Post Office Pavilion (OPO): Historic Renovation for New Revenue Producing Use

A Norton bill broke through years of administration resistance to allow private sector rehabilitation of this neglected Pennsylvania Avenue historic jewel. She convinced her colleagues that a development would not only save the federal government millions of dollars in annual wasteful spending for upkeep, but would generate revenue for the federal government and the District of Columbia alike.

Federal Funds for Historic Eastern Market Reconstruction

Because she believes that economic development must begin with existing structures, especially historic buildings, Norton asked Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar to accompany her to inspect the fire-damaged Eastern Market, and began looking for funds to help rebuild it. The Congresswoman secured two sources of funds: a $2 million federal grant, accounting for 25% of the building's historic renovation cost, from the Economic Development Administration, one of the agencies under her subcommittee's jurisdiction, as well as an appropriations earmark of $131,000.

Making Union Station a True 21^st Century Intermodal Facility

Norton used her gavel to hold the first hearing in decades on Union Station after securing $2.25 million for the Union Station Intermodal Transit Center Feasibility Study, expected to be completed next year. The study is central to Norton's goal that Union Station reaches its potential to serve the city and the nation as a model 21^st century intermodal facility. Currently, for example, Union Station is a hub for Amtrak, Metro and commuter trains, as well as for cabs and bikers, but no slots are designated for much needed low-cost intercity bus travel. Instead, intercity buses pick-up and drop-off people on street corners here.  At the hearing, Norton directed Union Station management to begin the process of locating intercity bus travel there, reminding the management of the congressional mandate.  She also directed changes to "security" policies: improper "private property" signs on this public space had resulted in heavy-handed treatment by security guards of visitors taking photographs.  Retraining of security guards was also required.

Norton will continue her oversight to protect the public's interest in this historic transportation hub. Oversight is necessary because several forces are at work that will affect Union Station's primary mission of

serving the public. Akridge is planning to build "Burnham Station," a massive undertaking that will add 3 million square feet of mixed use development above the train tracks behind Union Station. Also, Ashkenazy is doing a large redevelopment of the "mall" spaces of Union Station, while, at the same time, the city will be recommending actions from its study on ways to create an effective intermodal facility. 

Norton's Work on D.C.'s Newest Tourist Attraction: The Capitol Visitor Center

Norton held two hearings on the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC), expected to bring thousands of new tourists to D.C., before the opening in December. After the hearings on CVC transportation, security, greening initiatives, energy, and maintenance, Norton worked with Capitol Police and city officials to find an acceptable solution to the new transportation and traffic dilemmas to avoid tourist buses in D.C. neighborhoods. Norton's subcommittee also authorized the large hall in the CVC to be named Emancipation Hall, commemorating for the first time the slaves and free blacks who helped build the Capitol. Before the CVC opened, Norton brought elected and tourism officials, ANC commissioners and residents to a special preview tour of the CVC to help them prepare for increased tourist opportunities and traffic and to ask questions of top CVC officials.

Assuring New Development in D.C. Brings Jobs and Business to D.C.

Neighborhood Development

Concerned about vacancies in new buildings in the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood, Norton held a forum to introduce federal agencies to real estate opportunities outside the central downtown area. As a result, several agencies are looking at several developing sections of the city for expansion space, including the Agriculture Department. Norton's continuing efforts to locate federal agencies in developing neighborhoods has benefitted the NOMA neighborhood, where the new ATF headquarters and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission headquarters opened this session and a major section of the Justice Department has committed to the area.  National Public Radio, the YMCA and other well-known private entities are following the government's lead and moving to the neighborhood. 

Accountability Hearings

Among steps the Congresswoman has taken to ensure that D.C. businesses and residents benefit from her work as a new subcommittee chair were hearings on small business opportunities coming to the new Department of Homeland Security headquarters, and annual hearings on agencies under the subcommittee's jurisdiction to monitor competition for small business contracts for minorities, women, veterans and other disadvantaged groups.

Headway on Greater Equality with Other Americans for D.C. 

Norton Wins House Passage of D.C. Voting Rights Bill and Casts Important Votes After Getting Committee of the Whole Vote Restored

Norton's years of struggle for the D.C. House Voting Rights Act saw victory in the House, but fell three votes short of the 60 required in the Senate.  Pending the full House vote, likely to come this session, Norton insisted on voting on all that she could by reclaiming the District's Committee of the Whole vote, its first-ever vote on the House floor, which she won initially during her second term.  The Republicans later

revoked the vote, but, as the 110^th Congress opened, the new Democratic majority restored it.  Although Norton believes that there is no substitute for the full House vote, she was glad to cast many votes, on a wide array of issues, on the House floor this session, representing what she believed to be the positions of the majority of her constituents. 

Among her 84 votes were "yes" votes to: prohibit workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees; increase funding to combat domestic violence; increase funding for crime victims; require videotaping or other electronic recording of police interrogations; give priority to small businesses and organizations in awarding certain government contracts; create an Energy Conservation Corps; and provide an economic stimulus package, including extended unemployment insurance and increased food stamp benefits and Medicaid payments to states.

Norton also cast many "no" votes, including her vote against retaining the ban on D.C. funding for needle exchange; reducing student financial aid; imposing a seven-year limit on participation in Section 8 housing; cutting federal funding for Amtrak; eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; and eliminating AmeriCorps.

Working in Both Chambers at Once to Block the NRA Hijack of D.C. Gun Bill

Norton collaborated with senators to kill a dangerous, anti-home rule, NRA-inspired gun bill as soon as she learned that it was likely to pass in the House because of election-year support by conservative House Democrats. The NRA interference came after the U.S. Supreme Court had invalidated D.C.'s gun laws, while the D.C. City Council was in the midst of rewriting its laws to comply with the Court's ruling.

Important Health Victories Necessary to Help Turn Around Dismal Indicators

Norton's continued attention to D.C.'s poor health statistics bore fruit this year with major bills that should help relieve two of the major causes.

Health Care Professionals Where they are Most Needed

Norton got Congress to add D.C. as a designated area where primary care health professionals can serve for two years in exchange for student loan forgiveness. Nationally, this program has been successful not only in attracting but also in retaining health care professionals in areas similar to Wards 7 and 8, where health care indicators show the greatest need.  Prior to the Norton amendment, this valuable program had been limited to states.

Dedicated Dental Service for HIV/AIDS Act Adopted

To achieve a two-for-one victory, Norton included her prior bill for student loan forgiveness for dental professionals in the health care professionals bill.  The dental bill, which initially drew Norton's attention because of her work on HIV/AIDS, had the dual purpose of helping to remedy the sparse supply of dentists here and to facilitate early detection of HIV, which often is discovered through dental exams.  African Americans have been reluctant to get tested for HIV/AIDS, making prevention and early treatment difficult.

Needle Exchange Health Programs Available After Congressional Ban Lifted

After years of struggle, the removal of the ban on using D.C. funds for needle exchange programs marked a high point in Norton's efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, the District's number one public health problem.  Mayor Adrian Fenty promptly established a comprehensive needle exchange health program.  The ban finally was removed in 2007, the year of Norton's town hall meetings entitled: "A Series of Frank Conversations by Us, with Us, a Self Examination of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic," held separately for groups of men, women, teens, and clergy. Although the ban had been the major factor in driving D.C.'s HIV/AIDS rate above that of other large cities, Norton's town hall meetings focused on safe sex, testing, and eliminating homophobia and faulty information, which are indispensible in reducing the spread of this preventable disease.

Voting Rights Lobbying Ban Removed: D.C.'s Right to Petition the Government Returns

The lifting of the ban on using District funds to lobby for the congressional voting rights of residents saw the end of the insult that came with the injury. This ban will be remembered for the tyranny that is possible even in a democracy.

Two More Emblems of the District's Equality in the Union: D.C.'s Quarter and its Postmark

Worth More than a Quarter to D.C.

Like the 50 states, D.C. will have its own quarter circulating throughout the country, starting in 2009, thanks to a Norton bill that passed the House four times, and the willingness of appropriations subcommittee chairman José Serrano to attach the quarter bill to appropriations legislation that became law.  By popular vote, a likeness of Duke Ellington will appear on the D.C. quarter.

Return of the D.C. Postmark

Norton got the U.S. Postal Service to restore the Washington, D.C. postmark on outbound D.C. mail after learning that D.C. mail, processed in Gaithersburg, MD since the anthrax attacks here, rarely carried D.C.'s postal identifier.  Norton was concerned about the disappearance on mail going throughout the world of the city's unique identity as the capital of the United States and the home of 600,000 residents.

Norton Gets Passage of Senator Edward Brooke Congressional Gold Medal Bill to Honor Native Washingtonian and Underscore D.C. Voting Rights

With D.C. voting rights on the front burner, Norton got a rare Congressional Gold Medal bill enacted to honor the first African American elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote, native Washingtonian Edward W. Brooke.  The Gold Medal serves not only to honor a historic figure, but also to underscore the denial of voting rights to the citizens of the nation's capital.  Brooke was born and raised here and attended D.C. public schools, but had to move to Massachusetts to get a vote at all and certainly to become a senator.  President-elect Obama is expected to attend the Brooke Gold Medal ceremony.  In a letter supporting Dunbar High School's successful bid to participate in the Obama inaugural parade, Norton cited the link between Brooke, a graduate of Dunbar, which gained a national reputation for its academic excellence during the segregation era, and Obama, both pioneering African American senators.

Drug Treatment for D.C. Inmates and Lawyers and Judges for Residents Restored

First Hearings on D.C. Inmates Produce Results

            Because drug use is the most common factor leading to incarceration and recidivism, Norton got the first hearings on D.C. inmates in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, after Democrats took control of the House, and succeeded in securing access for D.C. inmates to an invaluable Bureau of Prisons (BOP) drug treatment program that reduces recidivism.  Rivers Correctional Institution, which houses mostly D.C. residents, constructed a special facility for the 500-hour drug treatment program.  D.C. residents in BOP facilities across the country convicted of non-violent crimes may now participate and qualify for reductions in sentences upon successful completion.  Norton is planning other prison reform initiatives,

based on her visits last session to three prisons, Rivers, in Norton Carolina and Cumberland, in Maryland, both for males, and Hazelton, a female facility in West Virginia.  A video conference town hall meeting between D.C. residents incarcerated at Rivers and residents here proved so successful that more are planned, especially to connect the many inmates who are incarcerated at great distances from the District and almost never see their families.  Norton believes she can bring home the small number of juveniles now sent to a federal facility in North Dakota.  Her long-term goal is a conversion of an existing federal prison in the region, or building a new one, for D.C. inmates, now scattered in scores of facilities throughout the country, a necessity for successful re-entry.

More Judges

Norton's bill increased the number of D.C. Superior Court judges from 58 to its full complement of 61 judges. Her bill now assures that the new Family Court Division of the busy D.C. Superior Court will be fully staffed for criminal and civil matters.

Securing Lawyers for Indigent Residents

A cap on wages for lawyers representing indigent litigants, such as abused children, had not been raised for six years, threatening the supply of needed attorney's. Norton was able to get the cap lifted this year.

Norton Finds Opening to Halt Walter Reed Closure

            The Congresswoman got language in the defense supplemental appropriations bill to prevent the closing, for the foreseeable future, of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in Ward 4, a major issue for the neighborhood and the city.  After Army officials testified that hiring and retaining staff had been difficult because of the impending closure, Norton seized the opportunity to keep the hospital in D.C., arguing that the nation's premier military hospital should not be closed during war time, and that any funding for a new Bethesda hospital should instead go to returning veterans and other veterans' hospitals.  The huge costs required for building a new hospital in Bethesda likely will delay closing Walter Reed for many years.

Using Gavel for Change on the Ground to Help Save the Environment While Building the Economy

Norton, known for her environmental work, traveled to India with a delegation led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the 110^th Congress opened to discuss what would be necessary to encourage this populous nation to support the successor to the Kyoto Protocol to reduce climate change. Norton returned intent on using her chairmanship and seniority on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to achieve important energy and environmental legislation in the 110^th Congress.

At Last a Bill for Full Anacostia River Cleanup

Norton attached her comprehensive Anacostia Watershed Initiative bill to the Water Resources Development Act, which finally became law.  Her bill authorizes an immediate $25 million for Anacostia River cleanup, and another $35 million for the correction of combined sewer system problems that are a direct cause of the river's pollution.  The Army Corps of Engineers is directed to work with the District's mayor and the governors of Maryland and Virginia on the 10-year comprehensive cleanup plan, due in November 2009.

Chair Uses Federal Footprint to Begin Greening D.C.

            Norton's "Greening D.C." initiative, begun under her new chairmanship, was off to a fast start with a major section focused on greening in the first comprehensive energy conservation bill.  Norton's provisions require the federal government to lead by example with energy efficiency improvements in the 1,500 federally owned buildings here and throughout the United States. Private sector buildings that comply will be preferred for government leasing. Other important Norton reforms include a new Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings, a requirement that the Architect of the Capitol green the Capitol complex, retrofitted buildings to expand the use of energy saving technologies; timetables for energy and water improvements; and required use of energy efficient light bulbs in federal buildings. She also sought to extend life cycle costs to 40 years to better reflect the cheaper long-term costs of green technologies and to extend utility contracts to 30 years, allowing the government to lock in cheaper rates to save money for reinvestment in green technology. After Norton became chair, the Department of Energy headquarters was required to install a photovoltaic system. She also included a section in appropriations that required the General Services Administration to study the benefits of installing green roofs on federal buildings in this region.

Clean Diesel Grants for District Vehicles

Norton approached the Energy and Commerce Committee and got the city included in the authorization for clean diesel matching grants, even though they are limited to the 50 states.  The District can now use federal funds for vehicles, such as school buses and medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

Higher Education Breakthroughs for Residents and for UDC

Annual $10,000 Tuition Grants Reauthorized for All D.C. High School Grads

Norton achieved her top education priority this session with the reauthorization of the popular D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program (DCTAG), available to any D.C. high school graduate.  To win support, she used figures showing the doubling of college attendance here since DCTAG was established six years ago.  This year, DCTAG students attended 646 universities and colleges in 47 states, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  DCTAG's annual $10,000 tuition grants to attend any U.S. public university and $2,500 to attend private institutions here and in the region also have encouraged taxpaying families at all income levels to remain here instead of leaving the city, and have been an important factor in stabilizing and growing the District's population.  Norton fought off a proposed means test, but the Senate added an amendment affecting a few wealthy families. 

New Equal Higher Education Funding for UDC with New Money to Combat Hunger

Norton achieved her long-time goal to obtain annual Historically Black Colleges and Universities funding for the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) law school, as she had done for the UDC undergraduate program several years ago.  At the same time, Norton tapped the Farm Bill's rich land-grant provisions to get UDC, the nation's only urban land-grant university, equal access, for the first time, to millions in funds for urban agricultural research facilities and to provide extension services, such as pesticide safety training and licensing for professionals, water quality education and monitoring, and gardening assistance for D.C. homeowners.

However, Norton's work with the Farm Bill went well beyond securing education funding because 76 percent of the funds in the bill are for nutrition programs, especially food stamps. She participated in a "Food Stamp Challenge," limiting her food and beverage costs to $21 for one week, that helped raise hunger awareness, and, along with her work in the House Hunger Caucus, led to a $4 billion increase in funding for the emergency food stamp program, with benefits indexed to inflation for the first time in 30 years.  This increase became law in May 2008, after a veto override, and could not be more necessary today, when one in ten Americans already are getting food stamps during this recession.

Norton Secures Education Funds for D.C. National Guard

Norton got $352,000 for college tuition assistance for D.C. Guard members.  Because the federal government has insisted on maintaining jurisdiction over D.C.'s Guard, Norton argued that it was only fair that the federal government provide the same higher education benefits to the D.C. Guard that states provide to the Guards under their control.  Norton works closely with Guard commanders here, and has attended funerals of fallen D.C. Guard members, as well as their send-off ceremonies to Iraq and Afghanistan, where they have been repeatedly deployed.

Huge Transportation Victories Come in at the Same Time

Three of Norton's most important transportation priorities became law this year: long-term WMATA funding, Amtrak modernization, and rail safety improvements. 

WMATA Funding for More Rides, More Comfortable Rides, and More Secure Rides

Norton was an original co-sponsor of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) legislation that will provide $150 million for annual capital costs for 10 years, giving WMATA its first long-term capital funding.  These funds will allow WMATA to avoid the piecemeal, year-to-year financing for new rail cars and other capital costs, which, along with age and increasing use, have accelerated deterioration.  The Congresswoman, who carried the bill in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, as Chair Tom Davis did in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, argued that transportation funds were appropriate because WMATA's primary weekday ridership are federal employees.  As a result of hearings in the Homeland Security Committee, on which she sits, she also pushed for funding for important security needs.

DC-NYC High-Speed Rail, and New Life for Amtrak

Opening a new path in rail transportation, the Amtrak bill authorizes the first feasibility study of operating high-speed rail between D.C. and New York City. The Amtrak bill also reauthorizes $13 billion for passenger rail to improve the Northeast Corridor, imposes fines for freight railroads that delay Amtrak, and establishes Amtrak worker safety and welfare protections. 

Low Cost Carriers at National without Increased Air Traffic

As the only regional member of the Aviation Subcommittee, Norton's work helped prevent the addition of new slots at National Airport, which would have increased noise pollution and air and vehicle traffic.  Instead, she helped negotiate a provision in the House-passed Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that reordered existing unused slots to allow lower-cost carriers at National, now monopolized by pricey carriers that place D.C. residents at a serious cost disadvantage. The Congresswoman believes that the worsening economy will increase the likelihood of opening National to lower-cost carriers, without adding new slots.                    

National Subcommittee Victories

Norton used her subcommittee chairmanship to obtain many victories for the District, discussed in other parts of this report to constituents.  However, much of what she accomplished in her first term as subcommittee chair also was of national importance. 

H.R. 1 - Shoring Up Security for the Nation

            Of first importance to the nation, as the 110^th began, was the new majority's pledge to pass the recommendations of the 9/11 commission.   Norton, who also is a member of the Homeland Security Committee, led her subcommittee to produce sections in H.R. 1 of major importance not only to national homeland security, but particularly to the national capital as well. Strengthening incident command for disasters and improving coordination with the private sector were two of Norton's most important sections in H.R.1.

Speeding Gulf Coast Recovery

In an effort to make up for lost time, the House passed Norton's subcommittee's two most important bills responding to serious Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) failings in the Gulf Coast recovery after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  The Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act expedited the repair of houses and affordable rental units. The Hurricane Katrina and Rita Recovery Facilitation Act is an unprecedented bill to overcome FEMA's shortcomings in taking bold administrative action.  This Act made it explicit that exceptions to the Stafford Act were permitted for problems directly associated with these two hurricanes in light of their unusual seriousness.  These bills were based, in part, on Norton's visits to the Gulf Coast, and on findings after she sent staff to investigate the status of Katrina and Rita recovery.  

Spreading the Wings of the Economic Development Commission Across the U.S.

Norton's economic development subcommittee broke new ground by authorizing three new regional commissions and reauthorizing two others at one time, to address the problems of systemic poverty and underdevelopment in some of the poorest regions of the country. The commissions could prove invaluable during this deep recession to regions that lack an economic base, or whose base has fled or become outmoded. The first and most extensive of the commissions, created by the Appalachian Regional Development Act, which applies to all or parts of 13 states, has shown that the model is effective.  

Legislation to Make Public Transportation and Federal Buildings More Secure

Public Transportation Security Comes Late, But Big

          When she was in the minority, Norton, who serves on both the Homeland Security and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, was the chief sponsor of the Democrat's public transportation security bill, but it became law only in the 110^th Congress, when the new Democratic majority took control and turned overdue attention to freight and public transportation hazards.  The bill authorizes $4 billion in urgently needed grants for public and freight transportation security.  Norton also got an additional $20 million for upgrades and security at Union Station. 

Norton Contract Guard Reform Legislation

When a Norton oversight hearing revealed that a convicted felon had been using his wife as a front for a Federal Protective Service (FPS) guard company protecting federal buildings, she followed up with a bill which now prohibits the FPS from contracting with any security guard company "owned, controlled, or operated by an individual who has been convicted of a felony," with appropriate exceptions by regulation considering the possible risks post 9/11.  Norton had called the hearing after she learned that security guard companies were not always paying D.C.-area security officers on time at federal sites here. During the hearing, Norton also uncovered a serious backlog of payments to FPS contract vendors nationwide that forced legitimate contractors to take out heavy loans to pay their guards. She gave the agency a deadline to clear the backlog, and, as a result of the hearing, FPS instituted a new contracting system, re-trained FPS regional directors and contracting officers, and developed guidance for contract guard companies to adapt their procedures to the new contracting system.  

Norton Presses Priority on Human Rights

Equal Rights for the LGBT Community and other Excluded Groups

Norton, a former EEOC chair, has had opportunities rare for a member of Congress to expand the laws she enforced as an administration official. She brought her commitment to universal human rights with her when she was elected to Congress, and engages in many activities for equal rights in the House.  Obtaining equal rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, who experience the most overt and unapologetic discrimination in the U.S. today, is a special priority, and protecting the rights of others who are similarly excluded, including women and minorities, remains an important mission of her service in Congress.  Among the many LGBT bills where she is an original co-sponsor are the hate crimes bill and bills to allow equal service in the armed forces by abolishing "don't ask, don't tell," to add job discrimination based on sexual orientation to the jurisdiction of the EEOC, and to return domestic partnership benefits to federal employees, which were nullified by the Bush administration's refusal to enforce an existing executive order.

Filling the Pay Gap: Equal Pay for Women

Norton brought her background in job discrimination enforcement to her work as an original co-sponsor of the two major equal pay bills of the session, the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, each of which amends laws she enforced at the EEOC.  The Ledbetter bill, which passed the House, would restore long-standing agency and judicial interpretation that each discriminatory paycheck resets the clock to file a discrimination claim.  The Paycheck Fairness Act is the first revision of the Equal Pay Act since its passage 45 years ago, updating its provisions for damages, employer retaliation, and employee freedom to discuss wages with co-workers, as well as other provisions to conform with later-enacted civil rights statutes.

Expanding and Maintaining Equal Rights Progress --Federal Judges and Law Enforcement Officers

Because of her background as a law professor, one of Norton's major ongoing activities is the review and recommendation of federal judges and significant law enforcement officials on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).  As the District saw this year, the Supreme Court and the federal circuit courts have tipped sharply against issues of primary concern to African Americans, women, working people, and civil libertarians.  Norton reviews the records of nominees and writes statements for the CBC, most often on nominees that they oppose or where there are issues that can impede preferred nominees.  Norton's work on nominees is used not only by the CBC, but also in concert with other member organizations, such as the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.