DC delegate plans to confront GOP lawmaker calling for Washington recession

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), the District’s non-voting representative in Congress, said Monday that she intends to confront freshman Rep. Rod Blum (R-Iowa) the next time they cross paths in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. 

Holmes Norton is outraged that Blum said last week D.C. needed a “recession.”

Blum created a social media firestorm after tweeting a photo of construction cranes in Southwest D.C. accompanied by the caption: “Washington DC is booming. Tower cranes everywhere. Being built on the backs of US taxpayers. DC needs a recession.”

Blum also tweeted a similar comment in October.

{mosads}So far, Norton said she’s only aimed criticism toward Blum via Twitter. But she said on Tuesday that this will soon change.

“I’m going to go up to him at the next Oversight and Government reform hearing so that he and I can talk about this,” Norton said on the “Kojo Nnamdi Show.”

Blum’s suggestion has drawn ire from D.C. locals. Tony Tomelden, the owner of The Pug, a bar in D.C.’s H Street corridor, called in to the public radio show to say he plans to host a fundraiser at his bar for Monica Vernon, who is running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Blum.

“I don’t need to be insulted by somebody who stands on the wrong side of the escalator going on the Metro,” Tomelden said, referring to a common pet peeve among D.C. denizens. “So we’re going to do whatever we can to send him back.”

The Pug’s website bills it as a place for “No idiots. No bombs. No shooters. No specials. No politics.” But for one day at least, the bar will make a “politics” exception for the effort to unseat Blum.

Blum serves the district previously represented by former Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) and is one of Democrats’ top targets this election cycle.

Norton noted that Blum co-founded a caucus advocating for congressional term limits and joked that Tomelden’s efforts could enforce them. 

“He is not term-limited himself. So I’m expecting you to do so,” Norton said.

Nnamdi told listeners that he had invited Blum to speak on Monday’s show. “For some inexplicable reason, he declined,” the host said.