{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://norton.house.gov//media-center/press-releases/norton-protects-walter-reed-and-dc-war-memorial-from-federal", "Norton Protects Walter Reed and D.C. War Memorial from Federal Interference in Defense Bill, Bill Heads to President", "2014-12-15", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "DC", "Eleanor Norton", "N000147", "norton.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that the final fiscal year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), now heading to President Obama\u2019s desk for his signature, protects the District of Columbia from further federal interference at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) and the D.C. War Memorial, as she requested.\u00a0\nFollowing long negotiations with the House and Senate Armed Services committees, Norton got compromise language in the NDAA for the old Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Building and its attachments (Pathology Building) to go to a public health entity, like Children\u2019s National Medical Center (Children\u2019s), if negotiations between the Army and the State Department fail.\u00a0 Norton also was instrumental in ensuring that at least 67 acres of the 110 acre WRAMC site will be occupied by the District of Columbia.\u00a0 She supported language in the original House-passed NDAA to authorize the transfer of the Pathology Building to Children\u2019s National, which desires to use the state-of-the-art lab space for research on children\u2019s health.\u00a0 However, the State Department wanted to demolish this space at a cost of up to $20 million for use sometime in the future when it can get funding.\u00a0 Norton objected, particularly considering that the State Department reportedly was seeking the Pathology Building and the rest of the land for free in violation of federal laws, and wanted 13 acres of D.C. land if Children\u2019s got the Pathology Building portion.\u00a0 In the end, Norton was able to keep D.C. whole with the full 67 acres.\nThe final NDAA also re-designates Pershing Park as a national World War I Memorial, laying to rest any possible nationalization of D.C.\u2019s War Memorial.\u00a0 Norton is an original cosponsor of the Pershing Park re-designation bill, which was introduced by Congressmen Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO) and Ted Poe (R-TX) in a compromise to re-designate Pershing Park, a federal park in the District, as a national \u201cWorld War I Memorial\u201d and to preserve the D.C. War Memorial for D.C. veterans only.\u00a0 Norton fought attempts to nationalize the D.C. War Memorial as the national World War I memorial, while also working to create a national World War I memorial in the District.\u00a0\u00a0 Norton and her colleagues previously agreed that the D.C. War Memorial would remain dedicated exclusively to D.C. veterans, and that they would continue to work together to pursue a number of other options for a national World War I memorial in the District, and to re-designate the Liberty Memorial of Kansas City, Missouri as the \u201cNational World War I Museum and Memorial.\u201d\u00a0 The NDAA accomplishes these goals.\n\u201cThese two provisions in the NDAA strengthen the integrity of the city\u2019s land and memorials and remove future congressional interference,\u201d Norton said.", 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-protects-walter-reed-and-dc-war-memorial-from-federal"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.933030154556036, "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"}