{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-amendment-banning-electronic-cigarettes-on-airplanes-spurs-dot", "Norton Amendment Banning Electronic Cigarettes on Airplanes Spurs DOT Final Rule Explicitly Banning Electronic Cigarettes on Commercial Flights", "2016-03-02", "2016", "2016-03", "Democrat", "House", "DC", "Eleanor Norton", "N000147", "norton.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that the momentum generated by strong bipartisan passage of her amendment prohibiting the use of electronic cigarettes and vaping devices for smoking on airplanes has pushed the Department of Transportation (DOT) to follow suit and issue a final rule that explicitly bans the use of electronic cigarettes on commercial flights.\u00a0 Norton\u2019s amendment was passed last month as part of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee\u2019s bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).\u00a0 At the markup, Norton complained that DOT had first issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in 2011 to ban the use of these devices on commercial airplanes, but had failed to make additional progress.\u00a0 The rule appeared to be stuck until passage of Norton\u2019s amendment generated attention and bipartisan support for the ban.\u00a0 Norton was particularly pleased that the DOT rule was finalized because final passage of the FAA reauthorization bill containing Norton\u2019s amendment is not assured.\n\u201cJust last week, we saw frightening footage of an electronic cigarette battery exploding in a man's pocket, causing second degree burns,\u201d Norton said.\u00a0 \u201cIf such a fire occurred on an airplane, it could be catastrophic, which is why DOT had previously issued a rule prohibited electronic cigarettes in checked baggage.\u00a0 In any case, smoking was banned on airplanes more than 25 years ago.\u00a0 I believe this case should have been closed long ago.\u201d\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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": ["http://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-amendment-banning-electronic-cigarettes-on-airplanes-spurs-dot"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5993588604032993, "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"}