When news broke that Republican committee members Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows had urged pharmaceutical companies not to testify because Cummings might leak information "in an effort to tank their stock prices," the congressman was "outraged and appalled." He explains, "this wasn't about corporate earnings it was about keeping people alive."Ĭummings may have died before the onslaught of COVID-19, but it's easy to imagine him applying the statement he made on that occasion - that these committee members would prefer to "protect drug company stock prices than the interests of the American people" - to the administration's response to the pandemic today. Lesser-known hearings feature, as well, including one that focused on lowering drug prices. He shares his perspective on an array of hearings that captured the national spotlight, from the Benghazi attack to the testimony of the president's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to the impeachment of President Trump. He immediately began preparing for "investigations into issues that are literally threatening our democracy - Trump-Russia connections, Trump's taxes and finances, the Mueller Report, immigration and border policy, family separations, and racism."Ĭummings provides an insider's view on his committee's efforts to do its job of both oversight and reform - a task made more difficult by endless obstruction from the administration and GOP. Of course, these friendships across the aisle didn't mean that Cummings would fail to "speak truth even when the truth isn't popular." When Democrats took control of the House following 2018's "blue wave," the congressman became chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Similarly, Cummings came to work so closely with Tea Party member Mark Meadows that people referred to the relationship between the two as an "unlikely bromance." In one example, Cummings recounts the uproar that resulted when Republican Darrell Issa refused to let Cummings speak during a hearing, adjourning the meeting and cutting off the mic while giving a "slash-across-the-neck motion." Members of both parties responded to the "gesture, calling it an ugly reminder of ugly history - the Ku Klux Klan, self-styled justice, racism, killing people by hanging them from trees." For his part, Cummings "did not add to the fire" and "only addressed the need for everyone to be heard in the democratic process." Issa subsequently apologized, but what helped secure their friendship was Cummings' attending Issa's portrait-hanging ceremony soon thereafter despite the controversy. We're Better Than This: My Fight for the Future of Our Democracy, Elijah Cummings
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