Norton Vows to Defeat Lee's Latest Attack on D.C. Home Rule

Press Release

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) vowed today to defeat the latest attempt by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) to subvert District of Columbia. home rule. Lee recently introduced a resolution disapproving D.C.'s Minor Consent for Vaccinations Amendment Act of 2020, which permits minors capable of informed consent to receive a vaccine without parental consent.

"I don't interfere with Senator Lee's business, and I won't tolerate his interference with D.C.'s," Norton said. "Each district must decide such matters for themselves. The D.C. Mayor and Council understand D.C. and its residents as Senator Lee never will. Surely, he has enough work to do on his own state. D.C. will take care of D.C."

Lee, who professes to support local control over local affairs, has been a chronic abuser of Congress' anti-democratic power over D.C., introducing legislation to overturn D.C.'s occupational licensing laws and create a new D.C. Council committee on occupational licensing; to ban abortions after 20 weeks in the District; and to allow discrimination against D.C.'s LGBTQ residents. Norton has defeated all of these bills.

Under the Home Rule Act in 1973, D.C. bills must be transmitted to Congress for a review period before they can take effect. A bill takes effect at the expiration of the review period unless a resolution of disapproval is enacted into law during that period. Only three disapproval resolutions have ever been enacted into law. Norton has prevented a disapproval resolution from being enacted into law since March 12, 1991.

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