{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://norton.house.gov/media/press-releases/norton-highlights-federal-employees-remarks-during-oversight-committee", "Norton Highlights Federal Employees in Remarks During Oversight Committee Reconciliation Markup", "2025-04-30", "2025", "2025-04", "Democrat", "House", "DC", "Eleanor Holmes Norton", "N000147", "norton.house.gov", "norton", "https://norton.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released her remarks from today\u2019s Committee on Oversight and Accountability (COA) markup of its portion of the reconciliation bill, where she highlighted the valuable contributions America\u2019s federal employees continue to make in the face of unprecedented attacks by the Trump administration. The reconciliation bill advances several proposals to reduce the pay, benefits, and protections for federal employees.\n\n\u201cThe administration and Republicans in Congress are trying to dismantle much of the federal government, gut the federal workforce and fill federal jobs with political loyalists, in violation of the Constitution, statutes and regulations,\u201d Norton said. \u201cMost recently, the administration stripped federal employees of their collective bargaining rights. Federal employees, who provide invaluable services to the American people, deserve praise\u2014not derision, cruelty, fear, chaos and illegal firings. These actions would \u2013 and have \u2013 deprived the federal government of expertise and experience. This harms the services the federal government provides to all Americans.\u201d\n\nNorton\u2019s remarks follow.\n\nStatement of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton\n\nOversight Committee Reconciliation Markup Statement\n\nApril 30, 2025\n\nI strongly oppose the reconciliation bill, including this committee\u2019s portion. Republicans are taking away Medicaid, food assistance, pay, benefits and protections for federal employees and other critical federal funding and programs to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.\n\nThe Trump administration and Congress have launched unprecedented attacks on federal employees, federal contract workers, federal agencies, federal programs, the rule of law and the Constitution, among other things. Most recently, the administration stripped federal employees of their collective bargaining rights.\n\nThe administration and Republicans in Congress are trying to dismantle much of the federal government, gut the federal workforce and fill federal jobs with political loyalists, in violation of the Constitution, statutes and regulations. Federal employees, who provide invaluable services to the American people, deserve praise\u2014not derision, cruelty, fear, chaos and illegal firings. These actions would \u2013 and have \u2013 deprived the federal government of expertise and experience. This harms the services the federal government provides to all Americans.\n\nInstead of attacking federal employees, this committee should be considering bills to support the federal workforce, such as my bill to combat federal pay compression. I yield back.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:06:22Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://norton.house.gov/media/press-releases/norton-highlights-federal-employees-remarks-during-oversight-committee"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9526349604129791, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}