Eleanor Holmes Norton: “If people get fired for cost overruns, half the Defense Department would be gone.”

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.

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.

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.

This bill would establish a commonsense process to ensure that qualified nominees are not indefinitely delayed by Senate inaction.