Norton Calls on Biden Administration to Endorse Giving D.C. Mayor Control Over D.C. National Guard

Press Release

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today called on the Biden administration to publicly endorse giving the District of Columbia mayor control over the D.C. National Guard. Yesterday, the House passed the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes Norton's provision giving the mayor this authority. The Senate's version of the bill does not include this provision. The Biden administration has never taken a position on whether it supports giving the mayor this authority.

"There is no national security rationale for not giving the D.C. mayor control over the D.C. National Guard," Norton said. "Instead, it is simply a pre-home-rule anachronism. It is long past time for the Biden administration to endorse giving the mayor this authority. The administration's support is critical to giving the mayor this authority in the final fiscal year 2023 NDAA. I have spoken to the highest levels of the White House about giving the mayor this authority, but was told the administration does not have an official position.

"While I greatly appreciate that the Biden administration strongly supports D.C. statehood and has given me senatorial courtesy for certain executive branch officials and federal district court judges in D.C., the administration, to my great disappointment, has not always supported D.C. equality and home rule. For example, the administration's fiscal years 2022 and 2023 budgets proposed prohibiting D.C. from spending its local funds on recreational marijuana commercialization."

The president controls the D.C. National Guard while the governors of the states and territories control their National Guards. The president has the authority to federalize the state and territorial National Guards. If the D.C. mayor controlled the D.C. National Guard, the president would also have the authority to federalize the D.C. National Guard.

The House's fiscal year 2022 NDAA gave the D.C. mayor control over the D.C. National Guard. The Senate's version did not. The enacted version did not.

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