Elijah Cummings

The American people demanded that their representatives in Washington fight for them and for what affects their lives on a day-to-day basis.

That year, Bayou La Batre did elect its first Asian-American city council member.

Asian Americans are becoming more politically visible, and our numbers are showing that.

It is only recently in the last 50 years or so that many of these laws have changed.

Asian Americans are often still seen as outsiders, as foreigners, as aliens.

And I don't give a damn how you look at it; there are efforts to stop people from voting. That is not right. This is not Russia. This is the United States of America.

On my mother's dying bed, 92 years old, former sharecropper, her last words were, 'Do not let them take our votes away from us.' She had fought and seen people harmed, beaten, trying to vote. Talk about inalienable rights. Voting is…

I am extremely proud that our committee is holding the first hearing on D.C. Statehood in the House of Representatives in more than 25 years.

Earlier this year, thanks to this committee's efforts, the House passed the Inspector General Access Act, co-sponsored by Chairman Cummings, Congressman Richmond, Congressman Hice, and Congressman Lynch, and hopefully, that will be given…

I really do think that we are in a moral situation. People are striving to live, trying to breathe the air of our country, trying to be better, trying to be healthy.

If we had a House and if we had a Senate that would pass legislation and we had a President that would sign it, this problem which is the subject of this hearing today could be fixed.

Thank you very much.

The freshmen Members on our committee...are some of the hardest working Members of the Congress.

The drug companies are getting away with murder.

I want to thank the gentleman, Mr. Meadows. Just to assure you, he's absolutely right.

No one on this side wants anything less than a fair return for the extraordinary work that the drug companies do.

I often say that so often out of our pain comes our passion to do our purpose. Pain, passion, purpose.

An accumulation of errors, including, quote, a systemic absence of leadership over an extended period of time, end of quote, and a failure, quote, to provide due diligence over the systems, end of quote

If you wanted to keep your products away from kids, you would support holding bad businesses accountable for illegal sales, not adding loopholes.

Thousands of retailers have been caught selling your products to children. Your ballot measure also seeks to insulate those peddlers from liability by raising the standard to, quote, 'knowingly,' end of quote, selling to minors.

It is shameful to fight cities that find flavors too dangerous for kids.

Kids are essentially, especially attracted to flavored tobacco products, and you know that, right?

I just want to make it clear, Madam Speaker, as I listened to the comments of our very distinguished minority leader, the fact is that what we are doing today is trying again to protect the integrity of this House and to protect the…

Let me be clear. First of all, I thank the gentleman for quoting me so much. I am tremendously honored. I think the quotes that he used just reiterate what I said when I began about how seriously I take this matter. I wouldn't be here if I…