U.S. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) in 2009. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
From the second floor of the Cannon House Office Building, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton sent a message to any politician who planned to limit the District’s right to self-govern: “We simply have to fight.”
Today’s battle came in the form of the No Taxpayers For Abortion Act, which would, among other things, permanently prevent D.C. from spending locally raised tax dollars for abortion services for low-income women. Yes, permanently, as opposed to the yearly appropriations rider that prohibits such spending. Additionally, the bill would “torturously [redefine] the term ‘federal government’ to include the term ‘District of Columbia government’ for purposes of abortion,” as Norton said in her statement about the bill.
Norton was denied the right to speak at today’s House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice hearing on the bill by chairman Rep. Trent Franks, the denial of a common courtesy, she said at a press conference this morning. She was once again denied the right to speak by Franks, after Rep. Jerry Nadler asked on her behalf at this morning’s hearing.
“The District of Columbia is a local jurisdiction of free American citizens, not a colony of the Congress,” Norton said in her statement. “This bill is a monument to autocracy and a mockery of American democracy. We do not intend to let Republicans get away with supporting democracy everywhere on earth except in our own nation’s capital. This bill goes many steps too far outside the realm of our democracy.”
D.C. Mayor Vince Gray also spoke at this morning’s press conference, telling Franks if he “wants to make law in the District of Columbia” he should resign from Congress, establish permanent residency in the city and become a candidate for the D.C. Council.
“But I will warn him that some of the policies he’s now espousing would probably lead him not to be elected in the District of Columbia,” Gray said.
Despite the fact that the No Taxpayers For Abortion Act has essentially no chance of being passed by the Senate, Norton said it’s still important to show opposition.
