Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague, who has been a very close colleague as we have sat under the guidance and leadership of Elijah Cummings. I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to honor my chairman, Elijah Cummings. This is an extremely difficult time for me because Chairman Cummings was more than a colleague; he was my mentor. As a freshman, while serving on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform with Chairman Cummings, I came to him with a litany of questions. He never turned me away. He was always receptive and always considerate. He would eventually explain to me how much he appreciated that I had put thought into the policies that I wanted to implement while serving in Congress. It was then that this great man actually saw that I really cared for people, and he instructed me to continue doing the work because, when you really care, your constituents will see it and will appreciate it. When I came to him during the Flint water crisis and told him we needed to look into this because people were being hurt, and children were being physically damaged, he was so determined to get to the truth. I watched him serve in the majority and in the minority, and there were many times when this chairman, my Chairman Cummings, became the voice of reason within the Caucus and at the helm of the Committee on Oversight and Reform. He was a consensus builder. He cut to the chase. And he was the person who worked across the aisle, never, ever putting anyone before the American people.…”