On the recordOctober 17, 2019
as the senior Senator from Maryland, I want to comment on the remarks by Leader Schumer about the great loss we had that we learned about early this morning--the death of Congressman Elijah Cummings. I found out about this as I awoke this morning. It is a sad day for Baltimore, for Maryland, and for our country. Two days ago, I had a chance to talk with Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, Congressman Cummings' wife, to inquire as to how the Congressman was doing. She explained to me that he was still in the hospital but he was using every ounce of energy he had to carry out his responsibilities as chairman of the Oversight Committee and as a Member of the House of Representatives. We all know that he used his energy every day on behalf of the people he represented. Our Nation has lost one of the great champions for social justice. What a powerful voice he was for those whose voices would otherwise not have been heard. It is a great loss. It is a great loss for the people of Baltimore--his record of accomplishment on behalf of our city and our region is well known--and it is a personal loss for me. I first got to know Elijah Cummings when he was elected to the Maryland General Assembly. I was speaker of the house. I recognized that here was a person coming in with incredible talent. I gave him an opportunity to use that talent, and he used it so effectively on behalf of the people of his district as a member of the Maryland General Assembly.…
