Historic Home Rule and Economic Achievements in First Year of the 111^th Congress Pave Way for Voting Rights and D.C. Budget and Legislative Autonomy in Second Year

Landmark Home Rule, Voting Rights, and Economic Relief Bills for D.C.

            Norton used the first year with an all-Democratic president, House and Senate to achieve the history-making passage of the D.C. House Voting Rights Act in the Senate and to achieve the home rule goal of eliminating the last three harmful D.C. riders - restricting local funds for abortions for low-income women, and for medical marijuana, and defeating Republican attempts to re-impose the ban on needle exchange programs.  This home-rule landmark paves the way for the big D.C. three in 2010 - final enactment of the D.C. House Voting Rights Act, which passed the Senate, and of budget and legislative autonomy, with the hearings already held this year. This report summarizes the Congresswoman's major accomplishments in 2009, followed by a section on her goals for 2010.

The unprecedented economic crisis of 2009 made this the year that the Congresswoman also had to shore up the D.C. economy with $3.5 billion in stimulus funding she got for the District: $1 billion directly for the District government, and $2.5 billion for the job-producing federal construction of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security headquarters compound, and rehabilitation of 15 federal buildings in the District.  As the economic crisis continued to drive up D.C.'s unemployment rate, Norton got her $5,000 home buyer and small business tax credits renewed in the House.

The Congresswoman kept to her D.C. priorities while taking leadership in getting the first $150 million of $1.5 billion in new funding for Metro, and securing solid benefits for District residents in the health care bill.

Final Passage of D.C. Voting Rights Scheduled for 2010

After two centuries of resistance, this year the Senate made history when it passed Norton's D.C. House Voting Rights Act for the first time by a vote of 61-37, with six Republicans supporting the bill.  Norton capitalized on the more than 18 months she had left in the 111^th Congress by refusing to give up without trying to overcome the National Rifle Association (NRA) amendment on the senate bill that would have wiped out all of D.C.'s gun laws. The Congresswoman believed that the city deserved her best effort to save the city's gun laws, particularly because the NRA bill would not permit D.C. to pass any public safety gun laws in the future, and once the NRA amendment passed, it could only be changed by Congress, where removal would be virtually impossible because of pro-gun conservative Democrats. 

When Democratic leaders could not get conservative Democrats to eliminate the gun amendment, Norton and her staff did their own extensive research and investigation and found a variety of ways to get a clean bill through the Senate and House without a gun amendment.  As 2010 dawns, her almost daily contact with Senate and House leadership is bearing fruit on a strategy to pass the D.C. House Voting Rights Act early in next year.

Empowering D.C. for Law Enforcement

Norton got senatorial courtesy to recommend major federal law enforcement officials for the city, and recommended Ronald Machen, to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, whose nomination is pending in the Senate. She also has recommended three residents for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and Obama also accepted her recommendation for chair of the U.S. Parole Commission, former D.C. Police Chief Isaac Fulwood, who has been confirmed by the Senate.  Norton does this important work in partnership with D.C. residents, she has established a D.C. Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission of D.C. residents to help her screen candidates.

The House Passes Norton Bills

Three important Norton bills for greater home rule and economic benefits passed in the House.  These were her bills to free the District from the federal Hatch Act and permit the D.C. City Council to enact its own Hatch Act, to transfer federal ownership of Kingman and Heritage Islands to the District, and to restore the retirement years lost by hundreds of D.C. employees when several D.C. agencies were transferred to federal jurisdiction in 1997, which has been signed by President Obama.  House passage of a Norton bill, co-sponsored with Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-14), for a National Women's Museum in the District will bring new jobs and visitors to D.C.'s tourist economy.

Congressional Gold Medal Prelude to D.C. Voting Rights

As passage of the D.C. House Voting Rights Act approaches in 2010, a high point of 2009 was the award of the highest congressional honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, to former Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke, a native Washingtonian and Dunbar High School and Howard University graduate, who was also active in lobbying for D.C. voting rights.  With President Obama and the entire Democratic and Republican leadership in attendance, Norton, who conceived of the Brooke Gold Medal as part of her campaign for D.C. voting rights, spoke at the Capitol Rotunda ceremony.  Her friend, the late Senator Ted Kennedy, agreed to sponsor the Senate bill to honor Brooke, the first popularly elected African American U.S. Senator, who had to leave his voteless hometown to get a vote, as well as to become a U.S. Senator.

Making Committees Work for Neighborhoods

The Congresswoman made jobs and neighborhood building the guiding themes of her committee priorities, especially her work as chair of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings Emergency Management.  She broke ground on the new Department of Homeland Security compound for three new buildings at St. Elizabeths in Ward 8, and with assistance from the General Services Administration (GSA), established an Opportunities Center for jobs, apprenticeships, and business opportunities on site.  With hearings, she began the equally ambitious work of guiding the remaking of Union Station in Ward 6 into a 21^st century intermodal center which includes bus service, due soon, a make-over of Union Station Mall and of Union Station itself to accommodate high speed rail and other services, and a new mixed office and residential community, Burnham Place, to be developed in its air space, above the railroad tracks.  Norton also worked with appropriators to ensure stimulus funds for the National Mall, a D.C. tourist attraction, and for the District's neighborhood parks, owned by the National Park Service, another source of stimulus-funded jobs for D.C.. Stimulus funds for the Smithsonian and the Capitol also were under her committee jurisdiction. At hearings, Norton, for the first time, got the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to publish the munitions found in Spring Valley in Ward 3 since 1993, and residents are now submitting public comments on the release.  She also quieted neighborhood fears of an early departure by the Corps by getting a commitment from the Corps to remain until all known munitions are eliminated. 

Norton's Long Home Rule Fight to Remove All D.C. Riders Bears Fruit

After years of work, Norton scored a historic home rule victory this year with the first elimination of anti-home rule attachments to D.C. appropriations bills, ending the bans on local D.C. funds for abortions for low-income women and medical marijuana and preventing re-imposition of the ban on needle exchange programs.  A medical marijuana referendum was approved by D.C. residents ten years ago, but Congress prohibited the District from implementing the referendum, although 69 percent of the voters supported medical marijuana.  Norton first got the ban on D.C. using its local funds for needle exchange lifted in 2007 when Democrats first took control of Congress, and this year succeeded in preventing Republican efforts to reinstate this ban through geographic restrictions.

Norton's Senatorial Courtesy Empowers D.C. Law Enforcement

Norton Selects Machen for U.S. Attorney for D.C. and Fulwood for U.S. Parole Commission

Norton moved quickly to exercise the senatorial courtesy President Obama gave her to recommend major federal law enforcement officials for the District.  President Obama has nominated Norton's recommendation for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald Machen, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.  Pending with the president is approval of her recommendations for three vacancies on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  The President already has appointed her pick for chair of the U.S. Parole Commission, Isaac Fulwood, former D.C. chief of police.  Because the Parole Commission has jurisdiction over D.C. Code and federal offenders from throughout the U.S., Norton also recommended Cranston J. Mitchell, of Missouri, a veteran of the Commission, who was confirmed by the Senate as vice chair.

Early next year, Norton will send recommendations to the president for the director of the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA), and for U.S. Marshal for both the D.C. Superior Court and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Norton Appoints D.C. Residents from Every Ward to Help Her Select Law Enforcement Officials

Norton named 17 D.C. residents to her D.C. Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission to screen and recommend candidates from whom the Congresswoman then chooses candidates to send to the president.  Members of the Commission are: Chair Pauline Schnieder, former chair of the D.C. Bar and partner, Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe; Jon Bouker, partner, Arent Fox and Zuckerman; Katherine Broderick, Dean, University of the District of Columbia's David Clarke School of Law; Francis D. Carter, partner, Zuckerman Spaeder LLP and member, executive committee and board of governors, D.C. Bar; Emilio W. Cividanes, partner, Venable LLC; Thomas R. Donahue, president emeritus, AFL-CIO; Terence C. Golden, chair, Bailey Capital Corporation; Dr. Charles Matthew Hudson, Jr., bishop, Matthews Memorial Baptist Church; Emma Coleman Jordan, professor, Georgetown University Law Center; Janet Murguia, president, National Council of LaRaza; Johnnie Scott Rice, chair and founder, National Congress of Black Women, Metropolitan Chapter; Daniel Solomon, president, Naomi & Nehemiah Cohen Foundation and co-founder and trustee, DC Vote; Robert Spagnoletti, partner, Schertler & Onorato, former D.C. Attorney General, and former president, D.C. Bar; Thomas Williamson, partner, Covington & Burling; Beverly Perry, senior vice president, PEPCO; Carrie L. Thornhill, member, DC School-to-Careers/Youth Investment Council; and Judith Winston, former general counsel, U.S. Department of Education. 

Norton Kept Moving Free and Equal D.C. Bills

Three more "Free and Equal D.C." series of bills passed the House this year with passage of all three expected in the Senate next year. 

D.C. Hatch Act Passes

Norton's D.C. Hatch Act Reform Act passed in the House this year to allow the District, the only local jurisdiction under the federal Hatch Act, to enact and operate under its own local Hatch Act, eliminating confusion about inappropriate and unnecessary application of federal law to local D.C. matters. 

Retirement Credits Restored for Hundreds of D.C. Agency Employees Signed Into Law

After trying for years to restore retirement time lost by former D.C. agency employees, Norton got her bill attached to the Defense Authorization Act of 2010, which was signed into law this year.  The bill corrects a provision that seriously short-changed hundreds of employees who worked for the D.C. Courts, D.C. Pretrial Services Agency, D.C. Corrections Department, and D.C. Adult Probation and Parole Services when these agencies were transferred to federal authority by the 1997 Balanced Budget Reconciliation Act.  Many employees lost "creditable service," or years credited for retirement purposes, because the years they worked in those District agencies prior to the federal transfers were not credited. 

Norton Continues Environmental Victories

Norton's Kingman and Heritage Islands bill, introduced last spring on Earth Day to expand the permissible uses of the islands by the District, passed the House. The islands, located near RFK Stadium, are a center for environmental education and recreation.  The bill, which will enable the District to engage in restoration activities and nature tours, notably advances Norton's pioneering work to restore the Anacostia River. The Anacostia River is at the center of Norton's work on the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, where she is one of the lead members on the pending Water Resources Development Act, which authorizes $50 million to fund over 2,000 projects in the ten-year Anacostia River cleanup.  Norton also achieved environmental improvements for the streams at Ft. Dupont and Pope Branch, and improved runoff filtering and access to the water in Anacostia Park.

Budget and Legislative Autonomy Hearing Held in Preparation for Passage in 2010

Mayor Adrian Fenty, D.C. City Council Chairman Vincent Gray, and former D.C. Control Board Chair Alice Rivlin urged Congress to enact Congresswoman Norton's budget and legislative autonomy bills at a House hearing.  The two bills would correct the most serious omissions in the 1973 Home Rule Act by permitting the District's budget, as well as its other laws, to become permanent without coming to the Congress.  Although the Congresswoman has introduced budget and legislative autonomy every year, this is the first session with a president who will sign the bills.  Norton expects the bills to pass during the second session of this Congress.

U.S. District Attorney Bill Introduced

Norton re-introduced a bill that would allow District residents to elect their own District Attorney (DA) instead of relying on the U.S. Attorney for the District to prosecute local crimes.  Although senatorial courtesy granted her by President Obama allows her to recommend the U.S. Attorney for the District, Norton wants to pass the DA bill next year. She endorses the referendum that showed residents overwhelmingly support an elected District Attorney.

D.C. Coin Puts D.C. on the Map

At a coming out ceremony with residents, Norton rolled out the much anticipated D.C. quarter, featuring a depiction of D.C. native Duke Ellington, the world renowned jazz great who was born and raised in the District, and was the popular choice of D.C. residents.  Norton insisted on a D.C. quarter for D.C. after pressing the bill for years after the city was overlooked in the original 50-state coin bill.  The D.C. quarter is the first circulated U.S. coin displaying a prominent African American. D.C. quarters were put into national circulation in February this year, and quickly became popular.  The U.S. Mint made more than 172 million D.C. quarters, significantly more than any other in the U.S. Territories.

New Norton Responsibilities for D.C. Hearings

Before the start of the 111^th Congress, Norton requested and was granted increased responsibility for District of Columbia matters in the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, on which she serves as a senior Member.  Because Norton's representation of the District gives her the greatest familiarity with D.C. issues, this privilege allows the Congresswoman not only to request D.C. hearings, but also to have staff under her supervision  prepare District of Columbia hearings under committee jurisdiction, rules and protocols.  The House allows members to chair only one subcommittee.  Norton chairs the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management.

Brooke Gold Medal a Prelude to D.C. Voting Rights

Norton conceived of the award for D.C.- born Senator Edward W. Brooke as part of her campaign to gain voting rights for the District of Columbia, and got the late Senator Ted Kennedy to sponsor the Congressional Gold Medal bill in the Senate.   The former Massachusetts Senator, during his Congressional Gold Medal acceptance speech, said he would "exchange the honor" of the medal "if the Congress will pass the voting rights act for the District of Columbia," and the crowd exploded with applause at the ceremony. President Obama, the entire bipartisan Senate and House leadership, and Congresswoman Norton awarded the first African-American Senator popularly elected the highest Congressional honor.  In her speech under the Capitol Rotunda, Norton called Brooke "an improbable, but certainly not an accidental, senator."  Brooke, a Republican who served in the Senate from 1967-1979, was born and raised in the District and graduated from Dunbar High School and Howard University.

Norton at President Obama's First Bill Signing

President Obama, in recognition of Congresswoman Norton's work on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, invited Congresswoman Norton, the first woman to chair the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), to the signing of the Ledbetter bill, which Norton cosponsored.  The Ledbetter Act, the first bill President Obama signed into law, overturned a Supreme Court decision and returned the Equal Pay Act (EPA) to the meaning it had when Congresswoman Norton administered the EPA as the chair of the EEOC.

NORTON FOCUS ON JOBS AND THE ECONOMY

BRINGS D.C. OUTSIZED BENEFITS

City Gets More Than Its Share of Stimulus Funds - D.C. Stimulus Plus a Big Bonus in Federal Projects

Norton made full use of her chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management to maximize state and federal stimulus funds for D.C. for a total of more than $3 billion.  First, she saw to it that D.C. was treated as a state for federal funding, and, as a result got a larger amount than received by seven states, including $1 billion to save critical city jobs as well as new money for schools, infrastructure and other local priorities.  Norton then got a big stimulus bonus for D.C. by pressing for funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Headquarters, being constructed in the District's Ward 8, and for stimulus funds to repair and upgrade federal buildings under her subcommittee jurisdiction, which are disproportionately located here in the District.

Largest Federal Construction in U.S. Begins in Ward 8 with Jobs and Business Opportunities to Match

Norton and top federal and local officials broke ground on her largest development project yet, at the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters compound on the west campus of St. Elizabeths in Anacostia.  The DHS complex is the most ambitious federal construction since the Pentagon and the largest development underway in the United States today.  The presence of 14,000 DHS employees in new federal buildings is expected to spark retail and commercial development for the first time along Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, the moribund central commercial corridor of Ward 8.

Norton, who secured the first $1 billion for construction, is now pursuing another $4 billion for the three-building complex and for the rehabilitation of the many historic buildings to be preserved and reused on the campus. Construction is expected to generate 38,000 jobs over ten years. 

Opportunities Center to Help D.C. Get Jobs and Training Contracts

Norton joined with the GSA to open an innovative Opportunities Center, a modular structure, to ensure that D.C. residents get a fair chance for jobs, apprenticeships, and small business contract opportunities at the construction site for the new Department of Homeland Security headquarters.  Contractors and GSA staff are helping D.C. residents and businesses apply and train for jobs, contracts, and apprenticeships.  The results so far are promising.  Small businesses received 100 percent of the contracts for pre-construction work, and 40 percent of these went to minority-owned contractors.  A $5 million set-aside for 8(a) small disadvantaged business competition has been announced.   Norton also worked with GSA on workshops that have helped small and minority-owned businesses learn how to qualify for contracts and to become certified on the spot following training. 

Norton Pre-Apprenticeships and Apprenticeships Funding Produces First Graduates

A Norton provision for $3 million in stimulus legislation for pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship training is already benefiting D.C. residents, women, minorities, and others who are poorly represented in the skilled construction trades.  Norton spoke to the first class of 20 pre-apprentice graduates, trained by the Community Services Agency, Metro AFL-CIO, which won one of the competitive contracts to do the training. The Norton program expects to graduate 200 pre-apprentices, who will work throughout the city and region. Besides the construction of the new, mammoth Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Ward 8, the General Services Administration, which is under Norton's subcommittee's jurisdiction, has 15 stimulus projects currently underway in D.C. for rehabilitating federal office space, a stimulus bonus she argued the District should receive because D.C. is a federal city with more federal offices than other U.S. jurisdictions. 

Norton Got Maximum Stimulus Benefits for D.C. - Better Than Seven States

Norton got $1 billion for D.C. in the federal stimulus package, more than that of seven states.  Norton tracked funding to ensure that D.C. was treated as a state in every category of federal funding.  D.C.'s stimulus funding has helped stave off layoffs of teachers, police, fire fighters and other D.C. employees in critical missions, and has funded new areas for schools, the environment, and other city priorities.

Norton Gets House Renewal of $5,000 D.C. Homebuyer and Small Business Tax Credits to Help D.C. through Mortgage Crisis and Jobs Recession

In this year of mortgage and credit crises, Norton got the House to pass her popular D.C. only $5,000 homebuyer and small business tax incentives before they expired on December 31, 2009.  With D.C.'s unemployment rate at almost 12%, Norton said that the $3,000 wage credit for each D.C. resident hired by most D.C. businesses is especially essential today to give badly outnumbered D.C. residents a fighting chance in the competition for jobs here with suburban residents who flood the city for openings. The incentives, credited with a major role in the recovery from D.C.'s economic crisis in the 1990s, can have a similar effect today by encouraging people to buy, invest, and employ residents here.

The D.C. homebuyer credit is useful even with the existence of a national stimulus homebuyer tax credit, modeled on the D.C. homebuyer tax credit, because there are a number of differences between the two, including the expiration of the national homebuyer tax credit, come April 2010.  Senate passage of the D.C. tax incentives with retroactive effects is expected.

Bill for New Museum to Honor Women's Contributions and Aid Tourism Passes the House

Norton co-sponsored the National Women's History Museum Act of 2009, with Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (NY), directing the General Services Administration to sell property on the National Mall for the construction of a National Women's History Museum to showcase the contributions of women in professional fields, as well as to honor women's roles in nurturing their families and communities.  Norton, chair of the subcommittee of jurisdiction, had to overcome a number of technicalities to get passage because of the difficulty in selling federal property.  The Congresswoman waived consideration of the bill in the subcommittee she chairs to expedite passage in the House.

Stimulus Funds for the National Mall and Local NPS Parks Restored

Norton worked with appropriators to help secure $135 million in the stimulus bill to rehabilitate the National Mall and National Park Service (NPS) parks here.  After successful Republican efforts got this line item taken out of the stimulus bill, the original language was rewritten more broadly to allow the Mall and other D.C. parks to receive stimulus funding.  The NPS later took Norton and residents on a tour of several NPS parks.  The Congresswoman toured parks in all eight wards in 2008 and then released a report detailing repairs and improvements that were needed to restore NPS neighborhood parks. Her report, "Arresting the Deterioration in the Valuable National Park Service Neighborhood Parks in the District of Columbia," provides a roadmap for repairs and improvements, including for benches, picnic tables and play equipment.

Norton Focuses City Residents on Personal Stimulus Benefits

Also invaluable to D.C. residents were many stimulus benefits that Norton fought for in the larger federal stimulus package.  Among the most valuable were: an $8,000 homebuyer tax credit, modeled after Norton's $5,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit; a 33 week extension of unemployment benefits, now extended an additional 20 weeks for the District, plus a $25 weekly increase; a $250 one-time payment to retirees; a $2,500 tax credit for college tuition and related expenses; a 65% subsidy for continuation of health insurance premiums for up to nine months for unemployed individuals and their families, now extended from December 31^st to February 28^th; and a sales tax deduction for new cars. For more information on benefits, visit http://www.norton.house.gov/.

Norton's Job Fair Greeted Eagerly by D.C. Job Seekers

Norton's Annual Job and Opportunity Fair gained new urgency as unemployment rates soared to record levels.  A line of 5,000 job seekers, hit hard by the economic crash, began forming at 7 a.m. for the 11:00 a.m. job fair and wrapped around the Convention Center corridors.  Residents said that particularly valuable was learning of the jobs coming through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus bill) and at the construction site for the new Department of Homeland Security headquarters.  After the "Dress for Success" fashion show, residents took advantage of the opportunity to meet with more than 100 private, local, state, and federal employers. 

Extra Federal Funds for D.C. Priorities

Norton reached into several different appropriations bills to garner $17.5 million for reputable public interest organizations that serve the city's poorest and most vulnerable residents. With the District unable to fund most such organizations, Norton focused this year on health, education, environmental restoration, and culture.  Among those who benefited were Children's Hospital, $5 million for state-of-the art equipment for detecting tumors and for epilepsy and autism research; School Biz Match, $500,000 for a project to promote workforce development by partnering local business and community organizations with K-12 schools in the District; Living Classrooms, $350,000 for a program that serves disadvantaged young adults through hands-on education and job skills training, focusing on projects that revitalize the Anacostia River and local neighborhoods; the Whitman Walker Clinic, $200,000 for a Norton favorite because of her emphasis on D.C.'s high HIV/AIDS rate; the National Building Museum, $150,000 for a historic treasure that renders unique service to the city's youth; and the Washington Hospital Center, $50,000 to improve its trauma and emergency centers and to better treat the medically underserved.  Norton also went after funds for the Veterans Hospital here, and got nearly $43 million for badly needed construction and rehabilitation.  She also continued championing her top environmental priority - the cleanup of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers and the Chesapeake Bay, with $7.5 million for work to facilitate clean-up.  The full list of Congresswoman Norton's extra funds for D.C. is posted on her website at http://www.norton.house.gov/.

NORTON MAKES COMMITTEES WORK FOR D.C.: HEARINGS WITH MEASURABLE RESULTS ON KEY ISSUES IN 2009

Critical Metro Hearings

The Congresswoman was instrumental getting two hearings on Metro this year, including a critical hearing after the June 22^nd Metro train collision that killed nine regional residents, seven from D.C..  The hearings brought all of the key actors together and brought to light the only new safeguard now in use by Metro - sandwiching the older cars, like those in which all who died were riding, between newer cars. 

Norton, a Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee chair, took the lead after the fatal June 22nd Metro collision, getting hearings, sponsoring a bill for immediate safety measures, co-sponsoring bills to increase funding for Metro and to establish national safety standards for subway and light-rail systems across the country, and assuring the first $150 million of the $1.5 billion authorized for Metro capital costs.  Norton expects the new bills to be incorporated into the administration's proposal being prepared in response to the Metro collision. Norton's interim safety recommendation bill clarifies that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) should recommend interim safety actions, where appropriate, in addition to its necessary, but often more costly, long-range recommendations for permanent safety solutions.  Norton wrote her bill following the June 22^nd Metro train collision that killed nine area residents, seven from D.C..  After the crash, Metro re-positioned the 1970s-vintage cars between the lead and rear cars at the suggestion of its union, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689.  Norton wrote her bill because for ten years NTSB responded to similar crashes and warnings with recommendations for expensive repairs it knew Metro could not afford. In addition, the National Metro Safety Act, which Norton co-sponsored with regional members, for the first time will authorize federal regulation of subways across the country and establish national safety standards and an inspection system.

Parole Commission Hearing Debuts Fulwood

            A U.S. Parole Commission hearing marked the first appearance before Congress of the Commission's new chair, former D.C. Police Chief Isaac Fulwood, and examined efforts to transform this federal agency to fit its new local responsibility for public safety in the District. 

Spring Valley Hearing Yields Revelations on Munitions

The Spring Valley hearing produced the identity of the WWI munitions that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has found in Spring Valley since 1993, now undergoing public comment before the munitions are destroyed. 

Norton Tops in Activity Among Subcommittee Chairs

Norton, chair of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management again had more hearings than any of the six Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee chairs. She held 19 hearings, including eight on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), whose failings during Hurricane Katrina kept Norton busy before she became chair helping to revitalize the agency for emergencies elsewhere in the U.S. and to clear up the backlog of Gulf Coast issues.

Norton held four hearings on GSA, to track $5.5 billion in stimulus funds for all fifty states, the District of Columbia and the four territories.  GSA is engaged in the largest construction development in the U.S. today in Ward 8, and is rehabilitating and greening 22 federal buildings, 15 of them in the District.

Because the stimulus funds Norton got for federal projects and D.C. were aimed at job creation, Norton has held hearings every few weeks to track stimulus spending nationwide and in the District.  The agencies under the jurisdiction of the subcommittee she chairs are meeting deadlines, in part because of Norton's tracking hearings. 

Norton's hearings on the agencies under her subcommittee's jurisdiction- the General Services Administration, the Economic Development Administration, the Smithsonian, and the Capitol Visitor's Center - held the agencies accountable for creating jobs and for complying with federal policies for small business contracts and for hiring minorities, women and others who have been underrepresented in the trades or who need training as journeymen retire.  Norton's subcommittee jurisdiction is broad and produced a number of other hearings as well, including a hearing on the 1950s vintage national emergency warning systems urgently in need of modernization.

NORTON'S HEALTH CARE REFORM WORK PAYS OFF FOR THE DISTRICT

Norton Work Helps Target Relief for Residents in All Wards

After working all year to ensure that the Affordable Health Care for America Act would treat the District equally with the 50 states, Norton celebrated the benefits for District residents in the House-passed bill, which survived in the Senate version.   The House bill would leave residents' employer-based policies intact and would provide benefits to thousands of local families, with a special emphasis on coverage for 14,000 uninsured D.C. residents; tax credits for 134,000 D.C. families and 22,000 D.C. small businesses to help pay for coverage; improved Medicare for 75,000 D.C. seniors; a closed prescription drug donut hole for 3,300 D.C. seniors; preventative care and wellness check-ups for all seniors; protection for 400 District families from healthcare-related bankruptcy; and reducing the costs of uncompensated care by millions for the District's hospitals and health care providers besieged by these costs.

Norton's "Fact Check Town Hall Meeting" on Health Care Reform Parts Company with Uncivil Forums

 Norton held a different kind of healthcare town hall meeting, and residents told her that they appreciated that it generated light, not heated discussions.  Featured were three District residents sharing their real-life struggles with unaffordable healthcare and denial of insurance because of preexisting conditions.  In addition, three health policy experts assisted in answering residents' questions on the pending healthcare reform bill.

EXPANDING COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

Norton Gets Release of WWI Spring Valley Munitions

Norton succeeded in getting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release the identity of munitions found in Spring Valley since the cleanup of World War I munitions began there in 1993.  At a congressional hearing on the cleanup, Norton refused to accept "security reasons for keeping secret 100-year old weapons."  She also got an important commitment from the Corps to maintain the cleanup until all traces of the munitions are gone.  The importance of this commitment was reinforced when mustard gas traces were later found in Spring Valley.  After this discovery, Norton toured the site and then held a town hall meeting to allow residents to question the new Corps commander in charge of the cleanup and other officials.  Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh also joined the town meeting panel. 

Norton Appoints D.C. Congressional Latino Community Council

Norton appointed a Congressional Latino Council, comprised of prominent D.C. Latino leaders, to advise her on the increasing array of issues affecting this growing community.  She introduced the members at a fun-filled Hispanic Heritage Month celebration at the GALA Hispanic Theatre.  The members are: Martha Bazurto, membership services director, Latino Federation of Greater Washington; Dr. Yanira Cruz, founder and CEO, National Hispanic Council on Aging; Maria Gomez, founder and CEO, Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Care; Sonia Gutierrez, founder and CEO, Carlos Rosario International PCS; Manuel Hidalgo, executive director, Latino Economic Development Corporation; Lori Kaplan, CEO, Latin American Youth Center; Rebecca Medrano, executive director, GALA Hispanic Theatre; Rosalia Miller, founder, Latino Student Fund; Beatriz "BB" Otero, president and CEO, Centronia; Saul Solorzano, executive director, CARECEN; and Alicia Wilson, executive director, La Clinica del Pueblo.

Norton Video Conference Puts Residents in Touch with D.C. Women in Federal Prison for the First Time

Norton held the first ever video conference town hall meeting with residents and D.C. women in federal prison, selecting women at the Hazelton Secured Female Facility in Hazelton, West Virginia, which Norton visited last year.  Addressing the imprisoned women, residents, families and service providers was a panel led by U.S. Parole Commission Chair Isaac Fulwood, other members on Norton's D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys, and  halfway house and other providers.   The video conference followed the Congresswoman's visit to Fairview Halfway House, the only halfway house for women here in the District, during Women's History Month.  All D.C. felons have been incarcerated in federal Bureau of Prison facilities throughout the United State since passage of the 1997 Revitalization Act.  Norton plans a hearing in 2010 on incarcerated D.C. youth in federal prisons.

Norton Continues Priority on Education

Norton continued to expand educational horizons as thousands of D.C. residents visited the Capitol, and a D.C. public school student was awarded an all-expenses scholarship to be a House Page.

D.C. Students in the Capitol

           Hundreds of D.C. public, charter, and private school students and residents were among the two million visitors who had visited the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) by last May.  Norton, whose subcommittee authorized the huge new CVC, meets with the students and answers their questions after each tour of the CVC and the Capitol.  The Congresswoman established the "D.C. Students in the Capitol" to fulfill her goal that every D.C. student should visit the Capitol at least once before graduating from high school.  D.C. students participating in D.C. Students in the Capitol this year were:  Ward 1 - Bancroft Elementary School, Bell Multicultural High School, Center City Public Charter School, Kingsbury Day School, Meridian Public Charter School, The National Cathedral Beauvoir Elementary School; Ward 2 - School Without Walls Senior High School; Ward 3 - Murch Elementary School, Stoddert Elementary School, Woodrow Wilson Senior High School; Ward 4 - Truesdale Elementary School; Ward 5 - Maya Angelou Public Charter School, Sheridan School, Tree of Life Public Charter School, William E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School; Ward 6 - Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, Miner Elementary School, Stuart Hobson Middle School, Washington International School; Ward 7 - DuPont Park Adventist School, Friendship Collegiate Academy, H. D. Woodson High School, Seed Public Charter School; Ward 8 - Anacostia Senior High School, Ballou Senior High School, Hart Middle School, Ketcham Elementary School, KIPP DC Academy, KIPP DC Key Academy, Moten Wilkerson Elementary School, Naylor Road School, Simon Elementary School Head Start Class.

Elijah Umek, 2009 Fall Congressional Page

Although page slots are awarded to members of Congress in rotation, the Congresswoman continually reaches out for extra page positions and received one this fall semester for Elijah Umek, a 16 year old junior at School Without Walls, to serve in the House Page Program.  He competed with other residents for the position.  Among Elijah's many experiences at the Capitol were attending the joint session of Congress on health care reform with President Obama and the Brooke Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda.  Elijah, who was on the House floor several times when Norton spoke, lived in the pages residential dorm on Capitol Hill and said he was especially impressed by the quality of his teachers at the Page School at the Library of Congress.  Participation in the Page scholarship program includes a stipend.  For information in case further page slots open up, visit Norton's website at http://www.norton.house.gov/.   

Education Dollars for the D.C. National Guard and Returning G.I.s

Norton introduced the Major General David F. Wherley Jr. D.C. National Guard Retention and College Access Act after her friend and colleague who, along with his wife, Ann, were among the nine who died in the June 22nd Metro train tragedy, including seven D.C. residents.  Norton had worked with Major General Wherley to get a $400 per credit hour benefit in D.C.'s annual appropriations to help equalize the education benefits for the federally-controlled D.C. National Guard with benefits offered by nearby states.  However, the Office of Management and Budget had raised issues about the unauthorized D.C. National Guard funds, so Norton introduced the General Wherley bill to authorize the funds.  These funds are in addition to the new "G.I. Bill for the 21^st Century" bill Norton co-sponsored for education benefits for veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  The new comprehensive G.I. Bill assists with tuition, fees, housing and books at private and public colleges. 

 2010 GOALS

NOROTN TO CHALLENGE ALL-DEMOCRATIC HOUSE, SENATE, AND ADMINISTRATION IN GREAT PUSH FOR 21^ST CENTURY HOME RULE AND VOTING RIGHTS ACT

The Big Three: D.C. Voting Rights, Budget and Legislative Autonomy

After getting all anti-home rule riders eliminated in the 1^st session of the 111^th Congress, Norton will pass the D.C. Voting Rights bill early in the 2^nd session and then will proceed to the two most important missing pieces of the District's home rule - Budget and Legislative autonomy. The Congresswoman is guided by her plan to get these difficult bills done in the second session, the first opportunity she has had with a president in the White House who will sign them.

Finishing the Free and Equal D.C. Series

This year Norton has been successful in moving most of her Free and Equal D.C. Series bills.  The D.C. Voting Rights bill passed the Senate for the first time, with House passage expected early next year. Hearings were held on the D.C. budget and legislative autonomy bills, with a mark-up set for early 2010.

2010 also is the year to pass the D.C. District Attorney Act to give the city its own elected D.A. and to pass the D.C. Statues bill to bring two statues depicting Pierre L'Enfant and Frederick Douglas to the Capitol to take their places with the statues from the 50 states. The D.C. Omnibus bill, scheduled to pass next year, is a collection of important home rule advances, most of which will bring new revenue to the city during this heightened recession when funds are in short supply. Among its many provisions are bills permitting D.C. to sell lottery tickets on land near federal buildings, to spend unanticipated reserve funds without coming to the Congress, and to exempt D.C. bonds from federal, state and local taxation, similar to the bonds sold by the territories.  The Omnibus Bill also transfers small but valuable tracts of land to the city to enhance schools and other educational institutions.

BIG ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND METRO MOVES COMING IN 2010

Remaking Union Station - Again

Norton is in the throes of a major effort for a complete makeover of Union Station.  The station was brought back from the dead in 1988, before Norton was in office, when it was historically restored and a mall was added under the Union Station Redevelopment Act, now under the jurisdiction of Norton's subcommittee.  The Congresswoman has mandated a new master plan in preparation for a 21^st century makeover of United Station into a true intermodal facility, with federal and private funds necessary for a bus depot, Amtrak, MARC and VRE facilities, pedestrian and bike improvements, streetcar connections and a redeveloped mall. In addition, federally awarded air-rights above the railroad tracks have now been sold to allow for Burnham Place, a new multi-use office, housing and retail complex. This massive development will be as important to the District as Norton's bills for the new Department of Homeland Security headquarters at St. Elizabeths and the developments at Poplar Point and Reservation 13 (DC General Hospital land) are for the city.

Making the National Mall a Destination

Norton expects hearings, a mark-up, and passage this year of her National Mall Revitalization and Redesignation Act, which provides improved amenities, such as tables and chairs for outdoor lunches, and clean, flushable and convenient toilets.  The bill also gives the National Capital Planning Commission authority to designate additional areas as part of the National Mall and requires the Secretary of the Interior to submit a plan to enhance cultural and other visitor-oriented activities on the Mall, whose museums are a centerpiece of tourism in the nation's capital.

More Money for Metro

Norton wants her bill, H.R.3975, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Interim Safety Recommendation Act, to be included in the new administration proposal for safety regulation of the nation's transit system.  Her bill authorizes the NTSB to recommend interim safety improvements when more costly repairs are delayed. Metro repositioned its 1970s vintage trains after the June 22nd Metro tragedy, a step never recommended by NTSB.  Norton, a senior member of the T&I Committee, will be instrumental in securing the second $150 million installment authorized for Metro, and moving a new safety standards bill in committee. 2010 A PRIORITY YEAR FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Norton Takes First Steps on Anacostia Watershed Cleanup

Norton guided the launch of her Anacostia Watershed Initiative, which passed in the last Congress, as the Army Corps of Engineers initiated the first pilot project at Sligo Creek for cleanup of the entire Anacostia River.  This year, the Army Corps also completed the first draft of the action plan required by the Norton bill.  When the final draft of the action plan is completed in February, Norton will seek $50 million to begin implementation of the ten year plan for cleanup of the river.

Norton Takes Steps to Improve Golf Courses in D.C.

Norton will engage the new administration and Congress to require an unprecedented master plan she believes is necessary to secure passage of her Golf Course Preservation and Modernization Act to renovate and modernize the three historic National Park Service (NPS)-owned golf courses in the District of Columbia.  Norton will seek a public-private partnership to make the East Potomac, Langston, and Rock Creek golf courses state-of-the-art, affordable, residential, and tourist attractions and to produce new revenue for the U.S. Treasury.

Norton to Require Potomac Levee Funding to be Picked Up by the Federal Government

At hearings, Norton got a commitment from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to pay for the Potomac Park levees required by FEMA's 100-year flood plan map that incorporates the National Mall and parts of neighborhoods and businesses in the Federal Triangle and in Southwest and Southeast Washington.  Norton will recover the $2.5 million that the District fronted for design work and will continue to insist that the remaining amount be paid for by Uncle Sam because the Potomac Park Levee is located on Federal land.