Transcripts For CSPAN3 Elijah E. Cummings Room Dedication Ceremony 20240713

Elijahs family members who are here with us today and thank them for sharing him with us. Please raise your hand when i call your name. Dr. Maya rockeymoore cummings, his wife. Miss jennifer cummings, his daughter. Mr. James cummings, his brother. Miss yvonne cummings, his sister. Mr. Anthony woodson, hes nephew. Miss carmen williams, his cousin. When i think about elijah, i think about what a friend of mine once described him, as a gem. That description resonated with me deeply. Like a gem, elijah seemed to have his own inner light, his own brilliance. He brought that light into this very room where he was a beacon of truth. He also brought his deep empathy, compassion and shining power of his faith. He encouraged us to reach not only for Common Ground but for higher ground. He brought us together in this room and is doing it again even now. Today we are honored to name this hearing room for him. This room and the work we do here will remind future generations of elijahs unwavering commitment to justice as well as dedication to civility and to decorum. He fought with all of his might for what is right, and he never he never thought less of those who disagreed with him. I can hear him now quoting from the book of amos do you know what i want . I want oceans of it. I want fairness, rivers of it. Thats what i want. Thats all i want. Let me conclude with this, as you all know february is black History Month, and i would be remiss if i did not highlight one additional fact. In preparing for todays ceremony, we consulted with the congressional historians office. According to that office, there has never been a room anywhere in the entire capitol that had been named after an it africanamerican member of congress. That has never been done. So elijah will be a pioneer yet again, and this room will be the first. We are all grieving the loss of elijah, what he did, what he represented, and his spirit is eternal. His light will always be with us. Thank you very much. And now i would like to recognize a very good friend of his as the next speaker, congressman mark meadows. [ applause ] as many of you know, mark was a close friend of elijah and wanted to rename this hearing room after elijah. Congressman mark meadows. Thank you. Well, it is a great honor to honor the chairman. And thats what i referred to elijah, not only as my friend but the chairman. He scared me to death, just to be blunt. When i was a freshman, i was just down there on the lower part of well, actually, let me just speak bluntly, it would pak take me, if we had a hearing monday, i would get to ask questions friday. But elijah never looked at it as anything less than being just one of 435 members of congress, and what we are here today is to give honor where honor is due. I want to recognize every single staff person that is here that worked with elijah. You know him better than most. And a lot of his legacy continues to serve in the halls of congress. The lessons he taught, the things that he shared, the compassion for his fellow man is not only recognized by some on the other side of the aisle, but it is carried on by those who knew him well and served with him and appreciate who he was as a gentleman, as a friend, as a family member, as someone who was always willing to speak truth in a respectable way. You will hear it from other people, that we needed to, you know, from weather it was as a Ranking Member or chairman, he said we needed to be effective and efficient. And, boy, i stole that from him and used that against him as many times as i possibly could. And yet today we are giving honor, and i am just humbled to see the crowd that is here. You know, i just am amazed at the impact of one life on the lives of so many others. So we can give him a great applause, amen, and he is hearing the applause of heaven right now because he is in a much better place. So it is my honor to turn the podium over to a good friend from california, chairwoman karen bass for a few remarks. Thank you. Humbled but definitely not surprised. A man who was bigger than life and impacted so many of us, impacted the entire nation. It was such a blow and to be here today and see everybody kind of throws you back into the shock we all felt when we received the news. But today were here to celebrate, and to celebrate his legacy. So im proud to join my colleagues today as we honor a man who spent his entire life advocating for justice, civil rights, and safeguarding the integrity of americans democracy. While his role as the chairman of the oversight committee, who might be remembered for playing a leading role in what we went through a nation over impeachment, congressman cummings always stood for the people. His leadership and championing Affordable Health care and drug prices for americans, fighting for children separated from their families. And i know all of us will remember those hearings, when he would get emotional, especially when it came to children and children being hurt, i remember the hearing where he heard about the children that were going to be cut off of lifesaving care and that their immigration status was a concern and the passion that he brought and the outreach that he brought to the notion of that. Making sure that the 2020 census will be an accurate representation of our country in standing up for the right to vote for all. These are just a few examples. The i know we can go on all day talking about ways that he has impacted us individually and also our nation. You know, outside of this building we also watched him, and the whole country watched him, when there were problems in baltimore. We saw our elijah stand in the streets to calm an entire city during a time of unrest and grief after the death of freddie gray, who was a victim of police brutality. We saw him go out night after night and be back here in the morning to chair committee meetings. He foresaw the imminent dangers that we were facing to our democracy. And he always used his gavel to speak truth to the power for our nation. He would remind us in the Congressional Black Caucus that our caucus was founded on the principle of being the conscience of the congress, a principle we cannot ignore at a time like this. When mr. Cummings spoke, he spoke with moral authority we were better than that. On behalf of the caucus i change Speaker Pelosi and chairman maloney for dedicating this Committee Room to congressman elijah so we will ensure his legacy always lives on. Now i have the honor of introducing the most powerful back then in the house of representatives, history maker in his own right, the icon, the whip, mr. Clyburn. Thank you very, very much, madam chair. Mr. Leader, madam chair. When i spoke to leader pelosi some time ago about this day, we were involved in a little bit of activity down in charleston, south carolina. And i said down to try to write something, what to say. I thought maybe i would spend a couple of minutes talking about elijah and what he meant to me, what he meant to this party, this congress. As some of you may know, elijahs roots were in south carolina. He was born and raised just a few miles where i was born and raised. And, of course, we all came along around the time that all of the activities that were going on that led to the brown v the board of education of topeka, kansas. So when i came here, i really spent a lot of summers out in an old area of baltimore called cherry hill. You all may know a little bit about cherry hill. I remember when they built those Public Housing out there and everybody my whole family had thought they died and gone to heaven when they went to live in cherry hill. And would invite me to come up and spend time with them. So it was my first time in baltimore was on cherry hill. So one day because i didnt know anything about elijah, i was talking to him, telling him about my experiences in baltimore and cher question hry how my family thought something really good happened to them that they were moved out there. He looked at me and said, you and i have a little more than this in common and he started telling me about mount zero baptist church. I was so carried away with that, i decided i was going to have a homecoming for elijah at mount zero baptist church. So i go in touch of the cruhurc and we arranged for the event to take place, told elijah when it would be and all planned for it. And that evening around 6 00 one of the worst storms that we ever had on that night came up. Docks were taken away, roofs taken off houses. And i turned to my wife and i said, you know what, we picked the wrong day to have a homecoming for Elijah Cummings. Nobodys going to show up at this church tonight. But we got in the car and went anyway. When we got to that church, with all of the storm, with all of the rain, it was full of people, a balcony full of people. And thats when i realized how special elijah was. He was not born there, his parents were. He was gone. But they never, ever allowed that family to gforget them and he never allowed them to get from him. You know, growing up a p. K. , preachers kid, it aint easy. I grew up one. He grew up one. He talked about how tough it was sometimes to try to stay out of trouble. We talked about that. He succeeded much more often than i did. But nobody lived out one of my favorite scriptures better than elijah. Hebrew 11 1, faith the substance of things hoped for, the evidence where things unseed. He and i often talked on the floor, just the two of us, literally whispering into each others ears about what it meant to hold on to that faith. So for my time, i will always hold on to Elijah Cummings. He meant so much to me. He meant so much to my family. He meant so much to the United States house of representatives and the world. Thank you. I think the whip for that extraordinary introduction that he gave me. I thought he would never stop. [ laughter ] maya, im glad to be here with you. We were sad to be with you and your family and elijahs family at that wonderful homecoming ceremony, where so many of you spoke so well. There were so many of his brothers and sisters, spoke so compellingly about who elijah was. And what he meant to each of us. For decades, perhaps centuries, people are going to walk into this room, theyre going to look up as they come into the room and see Elijah Cummings oversight Committee Room. And they will turn to somebody and say, who is Elijah Cummings . And perhaps those who knew him well will say he was better than us. I had the great honor of being elijahs friend and colleague for many decades. He and i did not overlap in the general assembly. He was the speaker pro tem, the first africanamerican speaker pro tem, and we now have the first africanamerican woman because Elijah Cummings led the way. And you will notice because i will introduce the speaker at some time the extraordinary diversity of the leadership of the Democratic Party and the house. Jim is from cherry hill. Nancy is from baltimore. And im from prince georges county. [ applause ] you may have thought it was something else. Elijah was the best of us. Elijah was in public life for the best of reasons. Elijah brought to him an experience and experiences that formed his empathy for others. It was one year ago today that our dear elijah presided over a hearing and said the following, and weve repeated this so often because it is so compelling. He said from that chair, when were dancing with the angels the question will be asked, in 2019 what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact . It was that power in his morality, in his integrity, and in his passion for america and its people that will be remembered when people walk through that door and look up and know that they are in the Elijah Cummings Committee Room. Every day of his career in public service, he dedicated to making sure that people who had the same experience, the same challenge, would be lifted up by those in power. And if not, he would call us to task for not doing that. Arm in arm over the angels, elijah surely is looking down on us with hope and conviction that we will continue his work. Here in this room that work will surely continue. And will be formed by the example, both the Minority Side and the majority side, and for generations to come members, staff, witnesses and citizens who come to watch proceedings will see his name above the door. A place where justice springs forth to claim the darkest corner of our country, wherever incorruption and malfeasance tries to entrench itself in our public and public laws. And whenever we as a nation counter setbacks in that work or see the march of justice slow to a crawl, elijahs memories will surely inspire americans to keep going. To keep talking, to keep cooperating, to keep creating consensus for a better, fairer, more equal, more inclusive america. To keep striving, to keep working for the more from union. The moral just america he knew to be our birth right. We miss him, all of us, every day on this hill. I know that marilyn misses him every day. I personally miss him every day. Some of you heard me say as long as we serve together, elijah nominated me for office in this leadership every time i ran. God, thank you for giving us Elijah Cummings, to bless this country, to bless his family, to bless his colleagues, to bless this committee, to make us better than that which we could be, to be all we could be. John kennedy said let us go forth to lead the land we love asking his blessing and his help but knowing that here on earth, gods work must truly be our own. Elijah, you did gods work, and you did it well. [ applause ] not following the clyburn example, i am going to introduce an historic figure that when you and i look back and say we were serving with nancy pelosi, we worked with nancy pelosi, we heard nancy pelosi, you will be able to tell your grandchildren you served with an historic figure, a great speaker. A great person. Nancy pelosi of baltimore, maryland [applause] thank you, steny. Clearly mr. Clyburn didnt think you needed an introduction to this kind crowd. Thank you very much for your kind words. Thank you to jennifer, sister yvonne, nephew anthony and im sorry adia and addaiia are missed. Please give them my wonderful regard in sharing the wonderful Elijah Cummings with us. Its really an honor to serve with him and i know many of us here consider it a jay to call him friend. Now to see everybody up here, all of these members of congress in the crowd, they all wish they were up here because they all had so much to say about Elijah Cummings, because he was such a such an honor to serve with him. You always learned from him every single day. Sometimes i would say to him, elijah, my first baltimore bro. Many we had a good rapport. We also consulted. I said elijah, am i mentoring you, im older, or are you mentoring me . Because we always, always, had the benefit of thinks thinking. Awe though sometimes he didnt want us to think he was teaching us but it was our idea in the first place. He was remarkable. Thank you, madam chair, carolyn maloney, for hosting this celebration about this room being named for elijah, and thank you for carrying on his work to protect our constitution, our system of checks and balances, as we exercise oversight. Again, to the members of the family we say thank you but we all consider ourselves members of elijahs official family. Members of leadership, members of the maryland dell congratulation, are they all here . Members of the delegation, jamie, baltimorens sarbanes and ruppersberger and all of the rest. They can attest to the fact, mr. Hoyer, they can attest to the fact he was a great Baltimore Orioles fan, right. Don, right . A ravens fan, right . He loved baltimore and he loved that team spirit, and he thought it was really part of his representation here to not only represent the people of the area but the spirit of the area. So it wasnt just baltimore city. He went out into the counties as well. To that congressional black causous, that involvement was so important to him. It was like a cornerstone to him, value of the conscience of the congress, especially to the leadership in all of us but especiallies had brother who spoke so beautifully about their spiritual and family backgrounds together. This committee, he loved being chair of this committee. He also loved being on the transportation infrastructure committee. That meant a lot to him because it could connect him very directly to meeting the needs of his district. And i was honored to appoint him to the Naval Academy visitors, which he enjoyed very much as well. But every place he went, he enhanced the opportunity for making change for the better. Now, here we called him our north star. Everybody agrees, correct . Elijah cummings was our northstar. He just was a leading tower of integrity and intellect and character. He was truly the master of the house. As many of us said when we eulogized him in the statuary hall in the house of representatives,ing how appropriate he would be sent off in congress in such an important way. I dont remember any house member ever was lying in state in the house and so many thousands of visitors coming to say goodbye to Elijah Cummings. Mr. Chairman, he was in a room of a statuary hall where so many patriots and heroes were memorialized. Elijah too. People from both sides of the aisle, people from both sides of the capitol. It was a beautiful thing. And then we all had the honor of celebrating life is life at new solemnist baptist church, because i could tell them there of some of the things happening here in reverence in which he was held. Its beautiful saintly man, others have spoken about him saying were better than this. He was always about the children. The children, our living messengers to the future we will never see. He said over and over again. You heard him say that, right . Did you teach on that . Future we would never see. He wanted to be sure everything that he did would make that future better for our children. Everything he did he wanted to make sure we instilled the values of kindness of america in those children as they went forward. And it was about the children that he spoke from that chair, the chairmans seat. When they talked about what was happening to the children that he said, we are better than this. Always connecting to the children. So here we are dedicating a room to him. Thank you, madam chair for pointing out this is historic. Again, as you said, hes an historic figure who pioneered in so many ways. When people walk the halls of congress, whether they come in this room or not, they will see above the door his name. And they will know how special he was by that manifestation of respect for him. But what they also should know is that his name is on so many pieces of legislation. His work is on so much policy in the congress of the United States. It made a real difference in peoples lives. He was so really spectacular that i still cant get over getting that call practically in the middle of the night that our darling elijah had left us. But when he was here, and even praying for us up there, at steny referenced and other referenced, dancing with the angels, we know that the life and work of Elijah Cummings was really a blessing to america. We say god bless america. He truly did with elijahs work and legacy of Elijah Cummings. I hope its a comfort to his entire family, maya, and the entire family, that so many people truly, deeply mourn your loss still, pray for your family at this sad time. Not only pray for elijah but pray to elijah. Thank you, ilijas, for being the great person that you are. We miss you terribly. I dont know when that will go away but we do know one thing, the great work you did for our country will always be an important legacy for all of us to benefit from for the children. Now its time for us to unveil the plaque. Would the speakers come forward to do that . Carolyn, i guess, first we unveil and then you speak again. Okay. Here we are. Okay, this is good . [ applause ] i want to thank everybody for coming. His wife, his family, all of his friends and special guests, particularly his staff. He assembled, i believe, the best staff on capitol hill, headed by dave rapalo. And many people did not know this but they did an incredible job doing the work and the research that led to the impeachment of the president came from this staff and the hard work that they did in many ways. I also want to thank all of his colleagues that he was so proud of and so close to and to all honored speakers, everyone here, and especially Speaker Pelosi forric mai for making this all happen. Thank you for making this happen. Its special its historic its black History Month and elijah has a room named after him. Thank you for coming. Stay and enjoy the refreshments. Thank you. [ talking in background ] President Trump holds a Campaign Rally in charlotte, north carolina, live this evening at 7 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2, is live on cspan. Org or listen free on the cspan radio app. Tonight on the communicators, Consumer Technology Association President gary shapiro talks about political ads on social media platforms. Hes interviewed by Bloomberg Government reporter rebecca kern. I dont think its a fair burden to put on a company like facebook or others to say you have to make this decision. I think there should be a way of dealing with that without editorial judgment. Thats not for me to say. Its for the congress and i hope they make one to respect the First Amendment. It hasnt gotten a lot of respect lately and social media saying thats unfair to ban social media, but the First Amendment affects everyone, it officials political speeches and first right amendments as well. The First Amendment is being torn up on college campuses, torn up on social media and torn up on an attack by facebook. Its such an important ame