Congress is a worse place for the death of Rep. Elijah Cummings

Becket Adams, Washington Examiner

Rep. Elijah Cummings is dead. The U.S. Congress is worse off for it.

The longtime Democrat from Maryland, who passed away early Thursday morning at the age of 68, was as sharp-elbowed as the best of them. He had plenty of his own moments of partisan rancor, but Cummings was known also for his decency and graciousness, including when he reprimanded a member of his own party this year for lobbing a bogus accusation of racism at a Republican colleague.

Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib alleged in February during a televised hearing of the House Oversight and Reform Committee that Republican Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina had engaged in a racist “stunt” by inviting Department of Housing and Urban Development administrator Lynne Patton, who is both black and a friend of President Trump, to offer testimony countering accusations that the president is a racist.

"The fact that someone would actually use a prop, a black woman in this chamber, in this committee, is alone racist in itself," Tlaib said of Meadows.

Naturally, the Republican lawmaker took offense at her remarks, demanding they be removed from the record.

“Would you like to rephrase that statement, Ms. Tlaib?” asked Cummings, who was chairman of the committee at the time.

Tlaib responded, “I am not calling the gentleman, Mr. Meadows, a racist for doing so. I’m saying that in itself it is a racist act,” adding that “as a person of color” she felt offended by Patton’s appearance at the hearing.

Cummings then exercised his authority as chairman of the committee to elbow the freshman congresswoman back in line, saying, “If there’s anyone who is sensitive with regard to race it is me, son of former sharecroppers that were basically slaves. So I get it. I listened very carefully to Ms. Tlaib, and I think … she said that she was not calling you a racist. And I thought that we could clarify that.”

He added, “Because, Mr. Meadows, you know, and of all the people on this committee, I have said it and got in trouble for it, that you’re one of my best friends. I know that shocks a lot of people. Yes, but you are. And I would — and I could see and feel your pain. I feel it. And so — and I don’t think Ms. Tlaib intended to cause you that, that kind of pain and that kind of frustration. Did you have a statement, Ms. Tlaib?” (Translation: Apologize, Rep. Tlaib)

“To my colleague, Mr. Meadows,” said the Michigan congresswoman, “that was not my intention, and I do apologize if that’s what it sounded like. But I said someone in general. And as everybody knows in this Chamber, I’m pretty direct.”

“So if I wanted to say that I would have, but that’s not what I said,” she added. “And thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me to clarify. But again, I said someone. And again, I was not referring to you at all as a racist.”

Meadows thanked Tlaib and then withdrew his request that her remarks be struck from the record.
Cummings was a political person, but politics did not define his life so much that he was willing to go all the way in demonizing those who did not share his party's agenda. The late Maryland congressman forged strong friendships that transcended politics, as all friendships should, because they put shared humanity ahead of ideology.

That is why Meadows, a staunch Trump ally, mourned Cummings' death Thursday, telling reporters, “I am heartbroken. Truly heartbroken. I have no other words to express the loss.”

Congress lost one of the decent ones today.

Congress is a worse place for the death of Rep. Elijah Cummings

Becket Adams, Washington Examiner

Rep. Elijah Cummings is dead. The U.S. Congress is worse off for it.

The longtime Democrat from Maryland, who passed away early Thursday morning at the age of 68, was as sharp-elbowed as the best of them. He had plenty of his own moments of partisan rancor, but Cummings was known also for his decency and graciousness, including when he reprimanded a member of his own party this year for lobbing a bogus accusation of racism at a Republican colleague.

Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib alleged in February during a televised hearing of the House Oversight and Reform Committee that Republican Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina had engaged in a racist “stunt” by inviting Department of Housing and Urban Development administrator Lynne Patton, who is both black and a friend of President Trump, to offer testimony countering accusations that the president is a racist.

"The fact that someone would actually use a prop, a black woman in this chamber, in this committee, is alone racist in itself," Tlaib said of Meadows.

Naturally, the Republican lawmaker took offense at her remarks, demanding they be removed from the record.

“Would you like to rephrase that statement, Ms. Tlaib?” asked Cummings, who was chairman of the committee at the time.

Tlaib responded, “I am not calling the gentleman, Mr. Meadows, a racist for doing so. I’m saying that in itself it is a racist act,” adding that “as a person of color” she felt offended by Patton’s appearance at the hearing.

Cummings then exercised his authority as chairman of the committee to elbow the freshman congresswoman back in line, saying, “If there’s anyone who is sensitive with regard to race it is me, son of former sharecroppers that were basically slaves. So I get it. I listened very carefully to Ms. Tlaib, and I think … she said that she was not calling you a racist. And I thought that we could clarify that.”

He added, “Because, Mr. Meadows, you know, and of all the people on this committee, I have said it and got in trouble for it, that you’re one of my best friends. I know that shocks a lot of people. Yes, but you are. And I would — and I could see and feel your pain. I feel it. And so — and I don’t think Ms. Tlaib intended to cause you that, that kind of pain and that kind of frustration. Did you have a statement, Ms. Tlaib?” (Translation: Apologize, Rep. Tlaib)

“To my colleague, Mr. Meadows,” said the Michigan congresswoman, “that was not my intention, and I do apologize if that’s what it sounded like. But I said someone in general. And as everybody knows in this Chamber, I’m pretty direct.”

“So if I wanted to say that I would have, but that’s not what I said,” she added. “And thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me to clarify. But again, I said someone. And again, I was not referring to you at all as a racist.”

Meadows thanked Tlaib and then withdrew his request that her remarks be struck from the record.
Cummings was a political person, but politics did not define his life so much that he was willing to go all the way in demonizing those who did not share his party's agenda. The late Maryland congressman forged strong friendships that transcended politics, as all friendships should, because they put shared humanity ahead of ideology.

That is why Meadows, a staunch Trump ally, mourned Cummings' death Thursday, telling reporters, “I am heartbroken. Truly heartbroken. I have no other words to express the loss.”

Congress lost one of the decent ones today.