Eleanor Norton

Ms. NORTON

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 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. 1921.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1921. This legislation reauthorizes the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Program for 5 years at $20 million annually and provides for regular reporting on the progress of the program. Some 2.1 million people live in the area surrounding Lake Pontchartrain, which is threatened by pollution related to urban and agricultural runoff, sewage overflows, and nonpoint source pollution. The Basin Restoration Program helps address these environmental challenges in a nonregulatory fashion and has made some progress. With continued funding and reauthorization, the program can continue implementing projects related to restoration. During a Water Resources Subcommittee hearing last Congress, some implementation issues related to this program were identified. Ranking Member Graves and Chair DeFazio requested that the U.S. Government Accountability Office study the program implementation; however, those issues should not prevent us from acting on this bill today. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1921, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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 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. 539.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 539, the Preventing Disaster Revictimization Act, introduced by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Graves from Missouri and Representatives Carbajal, Garamendi, Huffman, Thompson, and LaMalfa of California. This legislation is designed to ensure disaster survivors are not revictimized by recoupment--or clawbacks--of Federal disaster assistance they have received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Unfortunately, FEMA has repeatedly instructed disaster survivors to register for individual assistance for which they were ultimately not eligible, or granted qualified survivors more assistance than they should have received. However, once FEMA identifies an error, it forces these survivors into a bureaucratic nightmare to appeal the debt that they now owe as a result of the agency's error. I am not surprised that this still goes on, but I am disappointed that--given the technology and data we have at our fingertips--we have not been able to improve this system for survivors, especially considering that this program is just a small piece of the Federal disaster recovery apparatus. H.R. 539 would waive survivors' debt owed to the Federal Government in instances where FEMA erroneously distributed assistance. This bill would also provide a similar waiver to disaster survivors who may be involved in a legal action against a party deemed responsible for a disaster event. While this scenario is less common, it played out in California last year and jeopardized disaster relief for tens of thousands of families displaced by the unprecedented wildfires of the last few years. Survivors have already been traumatized by a disaster--the Federal Government should not force them to endure a convoluted process to correct FEMA's mistakes or decision to pursue legal action years after an event against a liable party. Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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. 468) to amend title 49, United States Code, to permit the use of incentive payments to expedite certain federally financed airport development projects.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 468, the Expedited Delivery of Airport Infrastructure Act of 2021. Introduced by the committee's ranking member, Sam Graves, the bill incentivizes the early completion of airport projects funded by the Federal Aviation Administration's Airport Improvement Program. As the global pandemic begins to subside and the number of vaccinated Americans has steadily grown, the number of passengers traveling by air has dramatically increased. In fact, last month, the Transportation Security Administration recorded the highest number of daily passengers screened at U.S. airports since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing airports to find ways to keep up with the growing passenger demand. This legislation will help address this need by allowing airports to use their Airport Improvement Program funding to offer incentive payments to contractors for early completion of airport development projects. Importantly, H.R. 468 includes conditions that ensure projects completed early do not have a negative impact on airport safety, efficiency, or capacity. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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. 2016) to amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to develop a study regarding streamlining and consolidating information collection and preliminary damage assessments, and for other purposes.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 2016, the Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act, introduced by Representatives Gonzalez-Colon and Peters. This legislation amends the Disaster Recovery Reform Act to help Federal agencies streamline and consolidate information collection and preliminary damage assessments following disasters. When a major disaster occurs, Americans don't have time to wait for bureaucracy. Today, however, too many barriers stand between emergency response and Americans in crisis due to disaster. Federal recovery assistance following major disasters is currently hampered by inefficient information collection and assessments conducted by multiple agencies. This bill will remove information collection barriers that currently impede disaster aid. It creates a working group to identify duplicative assessments and propose their elimination. Further, it would streamline Federal disaster recovery efforts by concluding that a single agency is sufficient to conduct damage assessments to account for the needs of disaster victims in 2021. It is 2021, and we can and should be doing this smarter. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1262, as amended.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise to support H.R. 1262, the Notice to Airmen Improvement Act, introduced by Mr. Stauber and Mr. DeSaulnier. H.R. 1262 will create a task force to review existing methods for presenting notices to airmen. Notices to airmen provide pilots with essential and real-time information regarding abnormalities or issues in the National Airspace System. For example, notices to airmen alert pilots to potential hazards in the airspace or at an airport, such as a closed runway or taxiway. While pilots are required to review all notices to airmen before flight, there has been concern about the lengthiness and completeness of the critical information contained in notices to airmen and how the information is displayed to, and organized for, pilots. Under H.R. 1262, the task force will determine best practices for organizing and presenting flight operations information to pilots in the most optimal manner and make recommendations to improve the presentation of notices to airmen while ensuring their accuracy and completeness. Recommendations from the task force could help prevent future aviation accidents and near-accidents. We saw, in July 2017, an Air Canada A320 almost land on top of five jetliners, with more than a thousand people on board, awaiting takeoff at San Francisco International Airport, before executing a go-around. The aircraft came as close as 60 feet above one of the planes on the ground. Thankfully, there were no injuries, but this could have been catastrophic. The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause of the incident was the pilots' misidentification of the taxiway for a runway, based in part on their ineffective review of notices to airmen before flight. Notices to airmen and airwomen can and must be better for pilots. I expect the task force established under H.R. 1262 will lead to recommendations that will improve aviation safety. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask the House of Representatives to join me in remembering the life of Lloyd Price, a longtime District of Columbia resident and great R&B vocalist and performer, who died on May 3, 2021. Lloyd Price, born in Kenner, Louisiana, on March 9, 1933, came to the District after serving in the U.S. Army. Growing up, he received formal training in the trumpet and piano and sang in his church's gospel choir. Upon returning from his military service, he formed KRC Records with songwriter Harold Logan. He had number one hits, such as Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Stagger Lee, Personality, I'm Going to Get Married and Where Were You on Our Wedding Day. In 1998, Price was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2019, he was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. He was also a great businessman. He produced some of the greatest fights in the history of boxing, such as The Thriller in Manila and The Rumble in the Jungle. Other business ventures included founding a construction company, which erected middle-income housing in the Bronx and Staten Island. He also managed Lloyd Price Icon Food Brands, which makes a line of Southern-style foods. Madam Speaker, I ask the House of Representatives to join me in honoring Lloyd Price, a great singer and longtime resident of D.C. I extend my deepest condolences to Lloyd's family.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the District of Columbia Local Juror Non-Discrimination Act of 2021. This bill would clarify that D.C. residents may not be excluded or disqualified from jury service in the D.C. Superior Court based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Specifically, my bill would clarify that ``sex,'' which is a protected class under the non-discrimination law that applies to jurors in the D.C. Superior Court, includes sexual orientation and gender identity. Under the Home Rule Act, Congress has exclusive jurisdiction over title 11 of the D.C. Code (relating to organization and jurisdiction of the local D.C. courts). The District has one of the strongest non-discrimination laws in the country, including protecting individuals based on sexual orientation and gender identity. However, under the Home Rule Act, the District does not have the authority to make this non-discrimination law applicable to jurors in the D.C. Superior Court. Therefore, until the District is given complete control over the organization and jurisdiction of its local courts, an act of Congress is required to make this important change to protect the rights of all D.C. residents. This bill is necessary to protect jurors in the D.C. Superior Court from discrimination. My bill is similar to the Juror Non-Discrimination Act of 2021 (H.R. 1140), which would provide the same protections for jurors in federal court. I am a proud cosponsor of that bill. I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.

Ms. NORTON

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the District of Columbia Federal Officials Residency Requirement Equality Act, which would require certain federal officials who serve the District of Columbia to live within its boundaries. In nearly every other jurisdiction in the United States, federal district court judges, federal circuit court judges, U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Marshals and federal court clerks are required by federal law to reside within the jurisdictions where they have been appointed--but these same officials appointed to serve only the people of the District are not bound by this same requirement. Even in the territories, such officials are required to live in those jurisdictions, other than the U.S. Attorney and U.S. Marshal appointed for the Northern Mariana Islands who at the same time are serving in the same capacity in another jurisdiction. The only other exceptions exist for such officials appointed to the Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of New York, which are the only districts that serve different parts of the same city. My bill would put the District on equal footing with almost every other jurisdiction by ensuring that our federal judges, U.S. Marshals, U.S. Attorney and federal clerk live among the residents they have been appointed to serve, in keeping with the federal law that applies elsewhere in the United States. The requirement that these federal officials live in the jurisdictions they serve is significantly related to knowledge of the effect of their decisions, an important reason the residency requirement is enshrined in federal law. As stated in the official commentary to the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, ``a judge should not become isolated from the society in which the judge lives.'' The same holds true for other federal officials. My bill recognizes that the District deserves federal officials with the same understanding and links to the community as Congress has seen fit to require for federal officials in other jurisdictions. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.