Congresswoman Eleanor Norton

Norton to Join Unions to Push for President’s Jobs Bill to Put Residents to Work at South Capitol Street Bridge Press Conference

November 15,2011

WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) on Wednesday will join members of the Laborers International Union, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, and the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers Union at a press conference in support of President Obama’s “American Jobs Act.” The press conference will take place at 11 a.m. at the South Capitol Street Bridge, Anacostia Freeway.

 “With so much work to be done and so many workers ready to work on crumbling infrastructure in the District of Columbia and across the country, the President’s American Jobs Act is a critical down payment that is due now,” Norton said. “The Laborers, the Painters and the Ironworkers are welcome proxies for the millions of Americans who will find jobs only if the Congress does its job and funds the American Jobs Act.”

 Norton pointed to the success of the federally funded Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters construction at the St. Elizabeths West Campus in Ward 8, which employs more than 350 District residents. Norton saw first-hand how intent D.C. residents are on finding work, when more than 4,000 people attended her annual job fair in August, almost twice as many as the previous year.