Norton Pushes Extra D.C. Funding into Omnibus But Pursues New Way to Fund DHS Construction

Press Release

Norton Pushes Extra D.C. Funding into Omnibus But Pursues New Way to Fund DHS Construction

The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that the Congresswoman was able to preserve most D.C. funding priorities in the omnibus appropriations bill, which the House passed last night; to remove both the needle exchange ban and the ban on lobbying or seeking court relief for voting rights; and to get the long-awaited D.C. coin bill attached. Norton fashioned an agreement with appropriators several years ago that allows the District's taxpayer-funded budget to be voted out on time by the end of the fiscal year, and the District has been able to spend from its budget since October 1. However, in what Norton believes will be a temporary set back, the appropriators removed funding for many provisions in the President's budget, including funding for the headquarters of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), although work to ready the site has begun on the West Campus of St. Elizabeths. President Bush refused to bargain concerning an extra $11 billion Democrats put in the appropriations bills this year, and appropriators responded by removing many provisions funded in his budget, including DHS headquarters. However, Norton has found a way to move forward with the headquarters site, which has strong bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and the strong support of four committees - the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the House Committee on Homeland Security, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Because the approach Norton contemplates would save the government millions of dollars as construction proceeds on the site, she believes the project could still be funded and move without significant delay. She has begun discussions concerning this possibility.

The omnibus bill also contains language recognizing the urgent need to move faster to reduce the District's high AIDS rate. The House and Senate appropriations committees called on the President to "allocate money to help solve D.C.'s high rates of HIV and AIDS in his 2009 budget." Norton had been successful in getting the Congress to attach a rider for a substantial raise voted by the City Council for the Chief Financial Officer, but the provision was eliminated in the final omnibus following the emergence of the tax and revenue office scandal. No other provisions were removed, but like virtually everything else in this year's omnibus, most other items were cut somewhat, but not substantially. Among the major District funding provisions included are: $33,000,000 for the DC TAG tuition program; $8,000,000 for the combined sewer overflow system; $500,000 for the Union Station Intermodal Transportation Facility; $500,000 for roads to allow access to a new public waterfront park as a part of Norton's Yards project on M Street; $150,000 for the Whitman- Walker Clinic; $500,000 for South Capitol Street Corridor improvements that Norton worked with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to obtain; $1,000,000 for street and parking improvements on South Capitol Street where a new disabled veterans memorial will be erected; $13,000,000 for public schools, $13,000,000 for charter schools, and $14,800,000 for opportunity scholarships; $5,000,000 for the forensic lab; $9,000,000 for the D.C. central library; $3,000,000 for D.C. public safety expenses at national parades and events; $352,000 for the National Guard retention and college access program; $223,920,000 for the D.C. Courts; $47,975,000 for Defender Services in Family Courts; and $190,343,000 for reentry of D.C. ex-offenders. The bill contains many earmarks for the District that Norton was able to get or that she asked other members to join with her in seeking. These are: Excel Institute, $300,000; Earth Conservation Corps, $282,000; STEEED Youth Program, $150,000; Catalyst -- Eastgate HOPE VI project, $132,000; ARISE Foundation, $281,000; Eastern Market, $131,000; Howard University College of Dentistry, $52,500; Center for Inspired Teaching, $52,500; Sitar Center for the Arts, $22,500; Menzfit, $23,500; Historic Congressional Cemetery, $625,000; Barracks Row, $500,000; Southeastern University, $300,000; International Youth Service and Development Corps, $600,000; Bright Beginnings Inc., $100,000; Everybody Wins!, $100,000; Marriage Development Accounts in D.C., $1,800,000; Children's National Medical Center, $487,000; Unity Health Care, $312,000; Washington Hospital Center, $312,000; George Washington University for training of health professionals in Washington D.C., 308,000; and George Washington University for the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, $370,000.

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