Sec Disclosure Effectiveness Testing Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, it is a very disconcerting day for so many of us here.

I thank Mr. Hoyer for bringing us together to mourn the loss of our dear friend and colleague, Elijah Cummings. I thank my friend for his beautiful statement calling forth so many of the beautiful attributes of Elijah Cummings.

As the gentleman spoke, I was reminded of how he always was a calmer of the waters. No matter how rough and tumble things would be, he would always just calm the waters and reach out, whether it was across the aisle, across the issue, across the Capitol, or down Pennsylvania Avenue.

I know that the people of Baltimore, the U.S. Congress, and America have lost the voice of the unsurpassed moral clarity and truth of our beloved Mr. Chairman, Elijah Cummings. I am personally devastated by his passing, as I know many of us are.

We have flowers in his place where he sat, where we all sought counsel, learned more, or calmed down and were lifted up by the wisdom, the graciousness, and the goodness of Elijah Cummings.

In the House, Elijah was the North Star. He was a leader of towering character and integrity whose stirring voice and steadfast values pushed the Congress and the country to give rise to a higher purpose of why we are here.

His principled leadership as the chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform was a perfect testament to his commitment to restoring honesty and honor to government, and he leaves a powerful legacy for years to come.

People think of him as that chairman but meaning so much to him was his role as a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He was always fighting for his district, for his State of Maryland, and for the country. He was a powerful voice for building the infrastructure of America and for creating good-paying jobs. He was a working-class guy in terms of whom he was here to serve.

I was very proud of him as a member of the U.S. Naval Academy Board of Visitors. He took great pride in the Naval Academy, his role on the board, and Maryland's role in our national security. I know we have some Naval Academy graduates here, and that was a source of great pride. He said that you have taken me to a new level of decisionmaking, in terms of national security.

Chairman Cummings' story was the story of America. He was a sharecropper's son who dedicated his life to advancing justice, respecting human dignity, and--as the gentleman from Maryland said-- ending discrimination.

He believed in the promise of America because he had lived it. He dedicated his life to advancing those values that safeguard our Republic: justice, equality, liberty, and fairness.

As our distinguished leader, Mr. Hoyer, said earlier, we were always listening to Elijah. These flowers remind me of it because of the growth and renewal that are there. He said, ``Our children are the living messages we send to a future we will never see.''

He also wanted to build a future that was worthy of the aspirations of our children. He always wanted to make sure that they took with them the values that nurtured him and that he was promoting in his public service.

Earlier this year, Chairman Cummings asked us: ``When we are dancing with the angels, the question will be asked: In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?''

He is now with the angels, out of pain.

And Maya said this morning, he fought the fight right up until the end. And those of us who communicated with him--I didn't know he was this close. I thought he was coming back in a few weeks.

But our Members, as I stated to our Republican colleagues, we had a conference call on Friday, this past Friday, not a full week ago, in which Elijah, as always, was passionate about what he believed in, dispassionate about how he conveyed a plan for how we would go forward with fairness, with justice, with dignity, worthy of the oath of office that we take to the Constitution, worthy of the vision of our Founders establishing this institution, and worthy, again, of the aspirations of our children, his words: messengers to a future we will never see.

His leadership made a difference in strengthening our democracy. Again, during difficult times, let us draw strength from his righteous words that the leader has been reminding us of all day: ``We are better than this. We are better than this.''

In the Congress, we will miss his wisdom, his dignity, the brilliance of his mind, the kindness of his heart, the friendship that meant so much to us and that we could all call upon.

In Baltimore, we will miss him as a champion.

May it be a comfort to his wife, Maya, to whom I conveyed the good wishes of the Congress this morning, may it be a comfort to Maya, to his three children and Chairman Cummings' entire family and, I want to add to that, his dedicated and devoted staff, in every capacity--as a Member, as a chairman, as a member of the committee, whom he just treated with such fairness and respect, his staff--may it be a comfort to them all that so many mourn their loss and are praying for them at this sad time and that he will always be inside of our hearts as we make decisions about our responsibilities and how we will be accountable when we are dancing with the angels.

God bless you, darling Elijah. We all love you. We miss you, but we will never forget you, and your legacy will live in the Congress of the United States in this House of Representatives.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source