Eleanor Holmes Norton

I think it would be a major implement of our ability to manage budget if we have the budget autonomy.

I am convinced that the District of Columbia could teach the Congress some things.

Chairman Issa's proposal is something I want to very much--it is the first I've heard of it, but it is one I certainly very much would like to work with him on and to build on.

But then I had one bill that said in the event of a shutdown, in any year, the District may spend its local funds so that we would not have to go through what we went through this time.

If we had closed down.

It is a tough budget with admirable balance. It spreads the pain.

The Congress of the United States had not denied the District of Columbia the right to spend its own local money to save the lives of District of Columbia residents.

I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for her strong work on this bill. Madam Speaker, this bill is unprecedented in a number of ways. It is unprecedented in that it uniquely affects my district, and yet I was not allowed to testify at…

I note that we are honoring Specialist Phillips the day after we learned that the Nation has met its commitment to kill or capture Osama bin Laden. We could not have known when this bill was placed on the calendar that it would come at a…

I thank the gentleman from Colorado for yielding to me and for his work on this bill. Madam Speaker, the District of Columbia has no vote on the rule or the bill under consideration. Yet the only controversial attachments in this bill…

I appreciate the gentleman yielding. The majority will allow a vote of every other Member on what affects only my district. No wonder the D.C. mayor, the council and residents have taken to civil disobedience.

I come to the floor today to celebrate the 41 District of Columbia elected officials and residents led by Mayor Vincent Gray and five members of the D.C. City Council who were arrested in front of the Hart Senate office building yesterday…

How much more contempt can you show for the citizens who live in the Nation's Capital? If the Republicans are going to require Members to cite the Constitution in introducing legislation, I ask them to stop tearing up the Constitution and…

I thank the gentleman for his efforts. I'm here to say to my good friends on the other side, it's one thing to beat up on the District of Columbia; it's another thing to drop a bomb on the city. And that's what this CR does. It takes the…

I have come to the floor because in a very real sense I feel surrounded. Mr. Speaker, I was sent to Congress, like every other Member, to attend to the business of the Nation. But in fact, I have been surrounded. I have been surrounded by…

I appreciate my friend yielding me 2 minutes. I did not get an opportunity to speak on the last amendment. Although I'm from the region, I did want to reinforce why the compromise fashioned by the chairman and the ranking member is so…

On the contrary, a letter is on its way up here from city council members. The present mayor opposes the bill. Yes, the former mayor was for the bill. The largest demonstration of citizens since I have been in the Congress was held when…

The speaker before the last speaker wanted to know what the offense was. The offense is to the home-rule prerogative to the people of the District of Columbia to decide on educational choices for their own children. That's what the offense…

Thank you very much, and I certainly thank my good friend from Florida for his work on not only this bill, H.R. 471, but for his strong respect for the District of Columbia and its residents and his support for our right to self-government…

The residents of the District of Columbia see a pattern here. The majority begins by taking away my vote in the Committee of the Whole so I can't vote on any part of this bill this afternoon, then they take away or try to take away the…

First of all, I have to correct the gentleman from California. The District charter school bill was created by Speaker Gingrich in partnership with me. He came to me and proposed a voucher bill. I asked him, since the District had a local…

The majority has been obsessed with depriving the District of Columbia of its home-rule rights ever since this Congress opened. They have come now with their choice, their preference, for the people I represent. If, in fact, the majority…

I thank the gentleman from Maryland for his terrific help on all we have done on this bill. Let me count the ways I strongly oppose H.R. 471: Because it reestablished a program that failed to improve academic achievement as measured by…

You know, in the later days of European colonialism, countries like France allowed some representation from the colonies because the whole notion of voting on the fate of the colonies with nobody there who could also vote seemed even then…

I respect my good friend, but I have got to stand for and with the people I represent. And if the gentleman wants to put the joy in the hearts of my parents, I challenge him to put joy in the hearts of the parents of his beloved Indiana…