Eleanor Norton

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this bill and urge my colleagues to do the same. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I rise to recognize the Nation's community supervision professionals and the many vital roles they play in their work with justice-involved adults and juveniles. They identify opportunities and services to help individuals successfully contribute to society, while, at the same time, holding them accountable for their actions. They remain always mindful of their role in ensuring public safety. In honor of Pretrial, Probation and Parole Supervision Week 2021, we salute all of those who have chosen this important career. In the District of Columbia, we especially thank the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia and the Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia for their service. These agencies are models of excellence in community supervision. Their work reflects the theme of Pretrial, Probation and Parole Supervision Week, ``Restoring Trust, Creating Hope.'' As was the case last year, community supervision officers have demonstrated great courage and resolve in continuing their work during the coronavirus pandemic. They have found innovative ways to remain connected with the individuals they supervise and to continue guiding them in the interest of safety. Community supervision agencies are valuable partners of government agencies, nonprofits, neighborhood-based groups and all who strive to make our nation safer and stronger. We extend our gratitude to them and ask the House of Representatives to honor them and recognize their many achievements as we proclaim July 18-24, 2021, as Pretrial, Probation and Parole Supervision Week in Washington, D.C.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce a bill to correct a retirement issue for several categories of workers who used to be under the District of Columbia retirement system. In 1997, Congress transferred several categories of workers who participated in D.C.'s defined contribution plan from 1987 to 1997 to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). However, these workers' service from 1987 to 1997 was not counted for purposes of creditable service or annuity amount in FERS. In 2009, Congress gave these employees the right to have this service counted for creditable service. My bill would correct this last retirement issue for these public servants. It would allow these workers to buy into the FERS annuity amount for 1987 to 1997 by paying 1.3 percent of their base pay plus interest, essentially the employee contribution for this time, which would give them the full retirement benefit to which they are entitled. Our bill is an important step to assist these workers in getting the retirement benefits they deserve. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I come to report significant progress on D.C. statehood and to thank my colleagues for passing my bill to make the District the 51st State. I especially thank Senator Gary Peters for holding a Senate hearing on the bill in June, only the second hearing in Senate history. I particularly appreciate the work of Senator Tom Carper, the lead Senate sponsor, for a record 45 Senate cosponsors. These efforts in the House and Senate have resulted in 54 percent of the American people now supporting D.C. statehood. D.C. is more than ready--indeed is overqualified--for statehood. Residents pay more Federal taxes per capita than any State, more taxes than 21 States, and has a larger gross domestic product than 17 States. The District of Columbia is well on its way to becoming our 51st State.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Federal Bureau of Prisons Voting Assistance Act with Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and Congressman Peter Welch. This bill would require the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to provide to inmates from jurisdictions that allow inmates to vote, like the District of Columbia, Vermont and Maine, information on how to register to vote and request an absentee ballot. It would require BOP to provide each BOP prison information on the criteria for voter registration, instructions on voter registration, voter registration forms and prepaid envelopes for voter registration forms, if provided by the state generally. Each prison would be required to post the information in the facility and give it to each inmate eligible to vote. These are essentially the practices BOP used in the most recent presidential election, so this bill would codify an already successful practice of assisting with voter enfranchisement. I ask my colleagues to support this bill.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce a bill to require the Directors of the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia (CSOSA) and the District of Columbia Pretrial Services Agency (PSA) to reside in the District of Columbia during their tenure. CSOSA is an independent Federal agency that supervises offenders only in D.C. PSA is an independent agency within CSOSA that supervises defendants only in D.C. This bill would not apply to those already in office upon enactment. Congress has justifiably required that certain Federal officials live in the jurisdiction they serve to ensure in-depth knowledge of the unique issues and challenges residents and these Federal officials face, but these Federal officials serving the District are not required to do so. There is no reason that the Directors of CSOSA and PSA, Federal agencies that uniquely serve D.C. residents, should not be required to live in the District, engage with local communities and work closely with local officials. Adding residency requirements for these Federal officials is a matter of fairness for the residents they serve. Madam Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce a bill that would make a small but respectful change to federal law by adding the Mayor of the District of Columbia to the list of named principals for whom the President shall order the U.S. flag be flown at half-staff. Current law states that the President shall make this order ``upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory.'' Surely the D.C. Mayor should qualify as such a principal. My bill would add the D.C. Mayor, who has the same responsibilities as state and territory governors, to the current list of officials. This bill is a continuation of our ``Free and Equal D.C.'' series to ensure fair recognition of the nearly 700,000 citizens of the District of Columbia. Last Congress, the Judiciary Committee passed the bill. Congress has already acknowledged that the District of Columbia is entitled to a place among the states for certain honors. The requested addition is not as expansive as others that Congress has already recognized. For example, legislation I have gotten enacted has ensured that the District of Columbia War Memorial honors only District residents who served in World War I, as intended, and that D.C.'s Frederick Douglass statue sits in the Capitol, alongside statues from the 50 states. We also successfully worked with the U.S. Postal Service to create a D.C. stamp, like the stamps for the 50 states, and worked with the National Park Service to add the D.C. flag alongside the state flags near Union Station. Legislation was also enacted to give D.C. a coin after it was omitted from legislation creating coins for the 50 states. Legislation required the armed services to display the District flag whenever the flags of the states are displayed. With these significant actions by Congress, it is not too much to ask to add the Mayor to the list of principals who are recognized upon their deaths. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, as chair of the subcommittee that helped write today's INVEST in America Act, I want to emphasize that this bill breaks with previous Transportation and Infrastructure bills generally passed every 4 or 5 years. Until today, we have simply updated the bill first passed during the Eisenhower administration. However, today's bill, for example, for the first time tackles climate change in recognition that transportation leads as a source of greenhouse gas emissions. The need to reduce burning fossil fuels is a priority in this bill to move us more quickly to zero emissions. I am particularly focused on transportation infrastructure alternatives, like those here in my district, the District of Columbia, particularly transit, especially Amtrak, and establishing a pilot project for reduced transit fares for low-income riders. Perhaps most important, this bill fundamentally reverses course by actively discouraging expansion of roads for the first time. This limitation is in recognition of climate change. Instead of incentivizing more miles of roads for cars, this bill encourages safer roads for walking, biking, and scooters. Today's bill repairs existing roads with climate-resilient materials rather than building new roads. The INVEST in America Act changes course altogether in the interest of 21st century transportation realities from climate change to rapidly emerging alternatives to cars as forms of travel and mobility. The 54 percent increase in funding for this bill is in keeping with the road to change course on transportation and infrastructure.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the District of Columbia Clemency Home Rule Act, which would give the District of Columbia exclusive authority, like the states and territories have, to grant clemency to offenders prosecuted under its local laws. While District law appears to give the mayor authority to grant clemency (D.C. Code 1-301. 76), it has been the opinion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) that the president, and not the mayor, has the authority to grant clemency for most offenses prosecuted under D.C. law, particularly felonies prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for D.C. in the D.C. Superior Court. Under current practice, clemency petitions for D.C. convictions, like federal convictions, are submitted to DOJ for the president's consideration. Whether or not DOJ's view is correct, my bill would remove all doubt that the District, and not the president, has the authority to issue clemency for local offenses. The District, like the states and territories, should have full control of its local criminal justice system, the most basic responsibility of local government. Since the D.C. Council has the authority to enact local laws, District officials are in the best position to grant clemency for local law convictions. My bill would provide clemency authority to the District and would give D.C. the discretion to establish its own clemency system. This bill is an important step in establishing further autonomy for the District. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the District of Columbia Non-Discrimination Home Rule Act of 2021, which would end the unique applicability of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) to the District of Columbia. My bill would protect the District's right to self-govemment, ensuring the District is treated the same as states, and defend LGBTQ and reproductive rights in D.C. RFRA, which provides more protection for religious exercise than the First Amendment requires, applies to the federal government, the D.C. government and the territorial governments, but not to state governments. As RFRA does not apply to the states, under the principles of home rule, it should likewise not apply to the District. While RFRA was designed to be a shield to protect religious freedom, it is being used, as evidenced by the Supreme Court's 2014 Hobby Lobby decision, as a sword to discriminate against the LGBTQ community and women. Members of Congress have used RFRA as a justification for trying--but failing--to overturn D.C. anti-discrimination laws. House Republicans have repeatedly tried since 2015 to nullify or block the District's Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act (RHNDA), which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees and their families based on reproductive health decisions, claiming, in part, that it violates RFRA. However, it appears that no one has challenged RHNDA's legality under RFRA in court. My bill ensures that District residents are treated the same as residents of the states under RFRA. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise to introduce the Georgetown Waterfront Enslaved Voyages Memorial Act. This bill would authorize the establishment of a memorial on federal land in the District of Columbia commemorating the enslaved individuals who disembarked at the Georgetown waterfront after forced migration to the United States by way of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The commemorative work, to be established by the Georgetown African American Historic Landmark Project and Tour, would honor the enslaved individuals' presence, celebrate their contributions to history, recognize their resilience and fortitude and acknowledge their deeds and feats. This week, we recognize Juneteenth (June 19), which marks the arrival of the news of emancipation to enslaved African Americans in Confederate-controlled Texas--two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued--the final end of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth celebrates the culmination of the long struggle for freedom from bondage in the United States. This monumental event prompts us to reflect on the past and look to the future. For four centuries, enslavers packed 12.5 million captive Africans into their ships to sell as chattel in the Americas. The vestiges of this history are everywhere yet scarcely marked, including here in the District. The Georgetown waterfront had an extensive and long-neglected history of involvement in the slave trade. Due to its location at the northernmost navigable point on the Potomac River, North Potomac, as it was then known, the Georgetown waterfront was a busy commercial port that operated as a mid-Atlantic trading center of enslaved people. The first Africans were brought as slaves through the Georgetown port in 1732. Though records are incomplete, scholars have determined that between that year and 1761, seven ships carrying an estimated 1,475 enslaved people arrived there. Those who survived the traumatic ``Middle Passage'' voyage were marched through tunnels that led from the C&O Canal, through the sewage system, to a slave auction block on M Street, now Georgetown's main commercial thoroughfare. Commodities to be sold for profit, these people were assigned no more value in America than that paid for them by enslavers. Slavery and the slave trade remained for generations an integral part of the United States. While the entire contribution of enslaved African Americans in the District and region cannot be determined, we know with certainty that white citizens and the federal government both relied heavily on enslaved labor to build the Nation's capital. We must not hide from this history. The enslaved individuals, known and unknown, who disembarked at the Georgetown waterfront after forced migration, rest at the core of our Nation's shared history. The atrocities of the system of chattel slavery shed light on our Nation's central struggle between slavery and freedom--a freedom under which some could be owned, beaten, separated from their families, and denied any rights. This bill provides for the creation of a powerful marker of truth-telling and remembrance. Let us honor the personhood of these individuals, who were repeatedly assumed to have none, so that they will never be forgotten. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today's bill making Juneteenth, when the last slaves got word that slavery had ended, a federal holiday has unique meaning for the District of Columbia because the slaves here were the first, not the last, to be freed. The reason, of course, is that the District was and is a federally controlled jurisdiction. The District celebrates the emancipation of slaves here on April 16 every year. Juneteenth should remind Congress that it's time for the first to be freed to finally become equal to other Americans. The House understands that with its passage of the D.C. statehood bill. So does the Senate, with a hearing on our D.C. statehood bill scheduled for next Tuesday, June 22. With the President, the House, and the Senate all believing that the residents of their Nation's capital should in every way be equal to other Americans, we rejoice this Juneteenth knowing that we are close to adding the 51st star to the flag.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 610, as amended.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1703) to amend title 40, United States Code, to require the Administrator of General Services to enter into a cooperative agreement with the National Children's Museum to provide the National Children's Museum rental space without charge in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, and for other purposes, as amended.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 587) to modify permitting requirements with respect to the discharge of any pollutant from the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant in certain circumstances, and for other purposes.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 587.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1144) to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to provide assistance for programs and activities to protect the water quality of the Puget Sound, and for other purposes, as amended.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1144, as amended.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2008.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2008. H.R. 2008 is a bipartisan bill to reauthorize appropriations for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Nonpoint Source Management grants program. I would like to thank my colleagues, Ms. Craig from Minnesota and Mr. Mast from Florida, for introducing this bill. Nonpoint sources of water pollution come from many diffuse sources, including runoff from farms, managed forests, and urban areas. This runoff can carry pollutants, such as fertilizers and sediment from fields and lawns, toxins from abandoned mines, and oils and heavy metals from roads into lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water. Nationally, some 55 percent of assessed rivers and streams currently do not meet State water quality standards. The Clean Water Act was enacted in 1972 to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters. In 1987, the Clean Water Act was amended to add section 319 to create a non-regulatory program through which EPA administers annual grants to help States develop and implement their own programs for managing nonpoint sources of water pollution. Under EPA's 319 program, States retain the primary role for addressing nonpoint source water pollution, which they do largely through voluntary means and financial incentives. However, according to the General Accounting Office, the extent of the available incentives has declined in recent years, as grants to States under the section 319 program have declined by more than 30 percent from a high of about $240 million annually in fiscal year 2004. The section 319 program was initially authorized at $70 million annually in fiscal year 1988, and its authorization level steadily increased to $130 million in fiscal year 1991, the last year of authorization for this program. Since that time, the section 319 program has continued to receive funds through the annual appropriation for EPA. In fiscal year 2021, the section 319 program received a Federal appropriation of $177 million, and the President's fiscal year 2022 budget request proposes an increase in funding for the program to $180 million. H.R. 2008 would authorize $200 million annually for the section 319 program through 2026. This would be a modest increase of the current appropriated level for this popular program, but less than the historic peak appropriation for this program in the early 2000s. Again, I thank Ms. Craig and Mr. Mast for leading this bipartisan bill. This legislation passed out of committee with bipartisan support and is a good bill for a valuable program. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Craig).

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1921) to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to reauthorize the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Program, and for other purposes.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 539) to amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to waive certain debts owed to the United States related to covered assistance provided to an individual or household, and for other purposes.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.