{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://norton.house.gov/media/press-releases/norton-introduces-bill-allow-president-order-nations-flag-half-staff-upon", "Norton Introduces Bill to Allow President to Order Nation\u2019s Flag at Half-Staff Upon Death of D.C. Mayor, Like Governors", "2024-06-11", "2024", "2024-06", "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) introduced a bill to add the Mayor of the District of Columbia to the list of principals for whom the president must order the nation\u2019s flag be flown at half-staff. Current law states that the president must order the flag to be flown at half-staff \u201cupon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory.\u201d Norton said D.C. mayors, who perform many of the same functions as state and territorial governors, clearly qualify as principals and should receive equal recognition.\n\n\u201cEven though the District is not yet the 51st state it strives to be, we should treat a deceased D.C. mayor the same respect as comparable figures of states, territories, or possessions, which are named in the statute,\u201d Norton said. \u201cI can only assume that the omission of the District of Columbia was an oversight and not meant to disrespect a deceased D.C. mayor or the residents of the District of Columbia. Adding D.C.\u2019s mayor to the list of officials who can be honored with flags flown at half-staff is a small but, to D.C. residents, significant way to ensure residents receive the equal treatment they deserve.\u201d\n\nNorton has successfully gotten other congressional recognition of the District of Columbia in situations where the District was overlooked while honoring the states. As a result of her work, the District of Columbia War Memorial honors only District residents who served in World War I; D.C.\u2019s Frederick Douglass and Pierre L\u2019Enfant statues sits in the Capitol alongside statues from the 50 states; the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 requires the armed services to display the District flag whenever the flags of the states are displayed; D.C. has a coin after it was omitted from legislation creating coins for the 50 states; the U.S. Postal Service created a D.C. stamp, like the stamps for the 50 states; and the National Park Service added the D.C. flag alongside the state flags across from Union Station.\n\nNorton\u2019s introductory statement follows.\n\nStatement of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton on\n\nthe Introduction of a Bill to Permit the Flag of the United States to be Flown at Half-Staff in the Event of the Death of a Mayor of the District of Columbia\n\nJune 11, 2024\n\nToday, I introduce a bill that would make a small but respectful change to federal law by adding the Mayor of the District of Columbia to the list of named principals for whom the President shall order the U.S. flag be flown at half-staff. Current law states that the President shall make this order \u201cupon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory.\u201d Surely the D.C. Mayor should qualify as such a principal. My bill would add the D.C. Mayor, who has the same responsibilities as state and territory governors, to the current list of officials. This bill is part of a series of bills to ensure equal treatment for the nearly 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia. In the 116th Congress, the House Committee on the Judiciary passed this bill.\n\nCongress has already acknowledged that D.C. is entitled to a place among the states for certain honors. For example, legislation we got enacted gave D.C. a coin after D.C. was omitted from legislation creating coins for the states and required the armed services to display the D.C. flag whenever the flags of the states are displayed. We got D.C.\u2019s Frederick Douglass and Pierre L\u2019Enfant statues placed in the Capitol, alongside the two statues from each state. We also successfully worked with the U.S. Postal Service to create a D.C. stamp, like the stamps for the states, and successfully worked with the National Park Service to add the D.C. flag alongside the state flags near Union Station.\n\nI urge my colleagues to support this bill.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:11:47Z"]], "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-introduces-bill-allow-president-order-nations-flag-half-staff-upon"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7532713934779167, "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"}