Eleanor Holmes Norton: “I urge passage of this bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.”

I will use every tool at my disposal to stop these riders from becoming law, and I commit to reminding my fellow lawmakers across the aisle that D.C. residents deserve the same consideration as their own constituents at every opportunity.

Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce the Federal Employee Short-Term Disability Insurance Act of 2026, which would make short-term disability insurance available to federal employees.

In my long career representing D.C. residents in Congress, I have rarely seen a bill as unreasonable and patronizing to the more than 700,000 people who live in the nation’s capital as this one.

Because there is no limit on how long personal information can be exploited, Congress must protect these federal employees and contractors in perpetuity.