Her status is granted by Congress, supposedly as an exercise of its power to legislate "in all cases whatsoever" over the District of Columbia.
Members of Congress come from the several states, and DC is not a state.
She sure thinks she is...
WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that she pleased at start-up figures on jobs and small business contracts for the construction of the new U.S. Department Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters on the St. Elizabeths campus in Ward 8. Norton, who chairs the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, which has jurisdiction over the General Services Administration (GSA) and construction at St. Elizabeths, is monitoring and receiving monthly reports on hiring and small business contracts at the project. Although federal regulations do not permit hiring exclusively from the jurisdiction of a project, the most recent report on employment and contracts shows that, of the 41 apprentices used on the project to date, almost 25 percent of the apprentices (or 10) are D.C. residents. In addition, 32 District businesses have been subcontracted so far, 15 of which are based in Ward 8. These figures do not reflect the large number of D.C. truck drivers, who account for approximately 70 percent of the drivers working on the project.
Norton said, "These start-up results demonstrate that D.C. residents and small businesses, if given half a chance, can compete in the highly competitive federal system. It is still very early in the hiring and contracting process, but the results show that our early emphasis on apprenticeship training and small business workshops is bearing fruit."
Norton worked with GSA and Clark Construction to build the Opportunities Center at the St. Elizabeths West Campus. GSA also holds monthly workshops on the Small Business Administration's 8(a) program for small businesses there. Norton secured $3 million for pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and 200 people are currently being trained in a pre-apprenticeship program.
The project is expected to generate 38,000 construction-related jobs and many small business contracts through 2016, in addition to the 14,000 additional permanent federal jobs, the first ever east of the Anacostia River. Norton holds frequent meetings with GSA, requires progress reports and holds hearings to monitor progress of the DHS headquarters construction.