19
earlier This year, When The laTe represenTaTive
Elijah Cummings was assessing new members for the
House Oversight Committee, he met with New York
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a young
politician whom many of his
colleagues had dismissed as
a showboat. Ocasio- Cortez
remembers the elder statesman
sizing her up.
“He said, ‘I’m not here to play
games,’ ” she told TIME. “ ‘I’m not
here for people who aren’t serious
about this work.’ ” Ocasio- Cortez
assured Cummings that she was
serious, and he took a chance
on her, welcoming the freshman
lawmaker to the committee.
The interaction stuck in her
mind. “The decisions we make
[in Congress] are enormous, but
they happen so quickly, and it’s
easy for people to get lost in that,”
she said. “He never did.”
In an era defined by vitriol
and division, Cummings, whose
death Oct. 17 of long-term
health complications surprised
the public, was a remnant of a
not-so-distant time when bipartisanship wasn’t just a
talking point. The progressive institutionalist earned a
reputation in his nearly quarter- century on Capitol Hill
as a fair mind and a calming presence, and an orator who
had the power to unite. “We respected him because he
was good. We respected him because he beat us many
times,” said House minority leader Kevin McCarthy in a
tribute on the floor on Oct. 17. “We respect him because
what he fought for, he believed in.”recenTly, however, Cummings found himself the sub-
ject of more polarized attention. The timing of his death
means his immediate legacy will be dominated by his com-
mitment to investigating the Trump Administration. As
Oversight Committee chair, he focused on White House se-
curity clearances, the transfer of nuclear technology to Saudi
Arabia and the President’s finances—even as he lamented the
need to do so. “None of us wanted
to be in this position,” he said in
June. “The Trump Administration
is challenging the very constitution-
ality of congressional oversight.”
His effectiveness drew Trump’s
ire. The President, who struck a
more respectful tone after Cum-
mings’ death, recently lobbed in-
sults at Baltimore, the city the Con-
gressman represented, and called
Cummings “racist.”
In the weeks since House
Democrats announced a formal
impeachment inquiry, Cummings’
health kept him from the Capitol.
But his work continued. The
Congressman approved every
subpoena from his committee with
his name on it, even if it meant
staffers had to hand- deliver it for
his signature to his hospital room.
Representative Carolyn Maloney
will serve as acting Oversight chair,
and the investigations continue, now without the man who
was their standard bearer.
“He was our moral compass,” said Missouri
Representative Lacy Clay. “He was the one that we
knew would tell it to us straight.” —With reporting by
abby vesoulis/WashingTon □CONGRESS
What Elijah Cummings
left unfinished
By Alana Abramson and Lissandra Villa
MILESTONES
A leader among leaders
By John Lewis
Elijah Cummings was so
human. I think that had a great
deal to do with his parents, who
were both ministers. I think it’s
something they instilled in him:
to be kind, to be good, to be
wise and to respect the dignity
and the worth of your fellow
human being. In the years I got
to know him, I never heard him
say a negative word about any
person. For some people, it’s in
their DNA to do what’s right.
We met in Congress, and
I got to know him fairly well
because from time to time
people would confuse us.
There would be individuals
from his own city who would
say things like, “I’m from
Baltimore,” and I would say,
“But I represent Atlanta.”People would sometimes call
him John and they would call
me Elijah, and we would laugh
about it—and I took some joy
in it, since he was taller and
younger.
When he died on Oct. 17,
at age 68, I heard the news
on television. I had stayed up
all night working and couldn’t
fall asleep after that. He will
be deeply missed, not just by
the people of Baltimore but
also by the people of America,
especially his colleaguesin Congress. When Elijah
Cummings spoke, members
listened. They wanted to hear
his words. They said, “If Elijah
Cummings said such and such
a thing, it must be the right
thing to do.” When he said
yes, he meant yes. When he
said no, he meant no. He was
a leader among leaders. But
more than a leader—Elijah
Cummings was a friend.Lewis is the U.S. Representative for
Georgia’s Fifth Congressional DistrictCummings in the House Oversight Committee
hearing room in Washington on May 2