Norton Begins Defense of D.C. Home Rule After Slew of Bills Introduced, Files Amendment to Exempt D.C. from National Anti-Choice Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – (RealEstateRama) — The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that Norton has filed an amendment at the House Rules Committee to H.R. 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2017, to strike the provision making the bill applicable to the District of Columbia. The Rules Committee will hold a markup today, Monday, January 23, 2017, at 5:00 p.m., in H-313, to decide what amendments, if any, will be allowed to be offered when bill goes to the floor tomorrow. The bill, introduced by Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), permanently prohibits the District of Columbia from spending its local funds that have been approved by Congress on abortion services for low-income women. The bill also permanently bans federal funding for abortion, prohibits D.C. and federal government employees from providing abortions, prohibits abortions in D.C. and federal government facilities, and defines the D.C. government as part of the federal government for purposes of abortion. Norton is the only Member thus far to have filed an amendment to the bill.

“Even before most House Committees have organized, some Members of the House and Senate have decided that the best use of their time is to gang up on the District to try to take down local laws unrelated to federal matters,” Norton said. “We do not intend to surrender our local laws to unaccountable and politically-motivated Members of Congress who are outside of their lane in determining D.C. policies and how D.C. should spend its locally raised tax dollars. This national anti-choice bill is a shameful attack on the constitutionally-protected reproductive rights of women across the country, and it is particularly odious in targeting a local jurisdiction and its local funds by abusing federal power over a local government.”