Philosophies were, he didnt care about partisanship. He cared we had a common interest. I appreciated that antiyears since then we continued to cosponsor that bill and continue to push it. Im sad to hear of his passing. And i offer my prayers to his wife and family. And i pray that hes united with god right now and i think Going Forward we can all be happy and proud of the legacy he set f lee thank you, mr. Speaker. The many things that we come to this floor to do, in the midst of our duties, we stand in this well as armor and advocates for democracy. There are moments of joy. There are moments of high debate. But i come this morning partly for a moment of sadness. Im looking at my iphone and a picture of myself and the late Elijah Cummings so many years ago. It just tells the story and breath and depth of his life when he invited members of congress to come to his district to challenge against the scourge of h. I. V. And to stand against the proliferation of addiction. He was always standing in the gap for his constituents, his beloved baltimore, his beloved family and he always considered himself as someone who would find a cure for the ailments of society. Thats why this morning you heard some of his words come on, come on people, were better than this. Or the wonderment of his words that really came from his Strong Spiritual connection. I want everybody to know that he was able to say all of this and remain that steady figure in the eye of the storm, because he was a man of faith. Who had no cham in his love of god shame in his love of god and the teachings of his parents who reminded us all the time, as they rest in peace themselves, that they were sharecroppers, and look at him now. He ascended to greatness. Chairman of the oversight committee. His focus watt not only on his focus was not only on this impeachment, he looked for all wrongness that afflicted the american people, certainly one of which was this high prescription drug, that is causing people to lose their lives or not take care of themselves, but he was also a man of justice and wanted criminal Justice Reform and wanted to work to ensure that our Police PersonsLaw Enforcement could have the kind of training and the kind of understanding of culturally diverse communities. He served us in many ways. He certainly was an icon amongst the congressional black caucus, but he was not ours alone. He belonged to this congress, republicans and democrats, and he belonged to the nation, but baltimore, i cannot leave you out. He belonged to the beloved baltimore and, also, the heritage of his parents. So i stand here today to give comfort to those who are mourning to try to ease the pain that i am experiencing and to be able to call upon a nation that has the beauty of allowing us to pray to any of the gods that we worship, of the god that we worship, and any faith that we may have, that we call upon that faith today to be reminded of a giant like Elijah Cummings. And i conclude with just the moment to be able to say, i pray for the families in syria, the fleeing kurds. I pray that this unmistakable disaster that has occurred, that we can put it right side up with the Congress Working to secure a nofly zone, to have a ceasefire in northern syria, to be able to stop the blood letting of women and children and the fleeing thats going on. As my good friend would want, we want to fix government, and in fixing government, we want to protect the american people. And this threat of National Security that has now been leased with the escaping of isis supporters and family members, along with isis persons, we must come together to find a way to bring about peace. In his name im grateful to have this opportunity to honor him and to also speak to peace. That is what i believe his life legacy will be, that he always wanted the best for america and he would always say to all of us no matter what walk of life we were in, what background we came from, what diverse part of america we represented, he would always say, we are better than this. In his faith, in a higher, was without question, and that will be the strength i have today the faith in a higher power. May god bless him, may he rest and have a soul that is rested. God bless his family. May god bless all those who loved him and