Incoming Chair of House Oversight Committee Says 'Voting Rights' Is a Priority
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) (Photo: Screen capture/C-SPAN)
(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) is expected to chair the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in the next Congress.
"If you take this chairmanship, what's your top priority?" Margaret Brennan, host of CBS's "Face the Nation" asked him on Sunday. "Where do you begin?"
"Well, first of all, we have got to make sure that we do the things that are important to the American people, things such as voting rights," Cummings said.
"If you take this chairmanship, what's your top priority?" Margaret Brennan, host of CBS's "Face the Nation" asked him on Sunday. "Where do you begin?"
"Well, first of all, we have got to make sure that we do the things that are important to the American people, things such as voting rights," Cummings said.
We just saw what happened down there in Georgia and in Florida. We cannot have a country where people are being blocked from voting. We also want to look at pre-existing conditions, things of that nature, to make sure that people are protected in regard to that.
We also want to look at the census. A lot of people are surprised about that, but the census is right around the corner. And what we do with regard to the census will affect us for the next 10 to 12 years. And it will affect every single person in this country.
Another area is postal. Our postal system has had some economic problems. We have legislation that could actually cure those problems. We want to move that forward. So, we're going to be doing that.
But, at the same time, we're going to address the issue that a lot of people are concerned about, and making sure that government is doing what government is supposed to do for all of the American people.
We may not have been elected by all the people, as Democrats, but we must govern all the people in a fair way.
Cummings said he's also "extremely concerned" about the appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general.
"I question whether or not it was actually a legitimate appointment, since he's not been confirmed by the Senate. But we're going to look into all of this," he said.
Cummings said he doesn't think Congress can force Whitaker's recusal from the special counsel's Trump-Russia probe. "But we're going to certainly look at every angle."
Last week, on the Sunday after the election, Cummings said he won't be handing out subpoenas like they were Halloween candy. But he told ABC's "This Week" that he "definitely" plans to investigate whether President Trump has violated the Constitution's Emoluments clause, which says government officials may not, without the consent of Congress, accept any "present, Emolument, Office or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State."
"We definitely want to look at the Emolument clause, possible violations. I think there are probably many of them. We want to look at things like the FBI building fiasco, where the president injected himself into that debate as to where it would be located -- we think for his benefit. We got to figure out when is he acting on behalf of the American people in a lot of his decisions or -- or is he acting on his own behalf."
"I question whether or not it was actually a legitimate appointment, since he's not been confirmed by the Senate. But we're going to look into all of this," he said.
Cummings said he doesn't think Congress can force Whitaker's recusal from the special counsel's Trump-Russia probe. "But we're going to certainly look at every angle."
Last week, on the Sunday after the election, Cummings said he won't be handing out subpoenas like they were Halloween candy. But he told ABC's "This Week" that he "definitely" plans to investigate whether President Trump has violated the Constitution's Emoluments clause, which says government officials may not, without the consent of Congress, accept any "present, Emolument, Office or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State."
"We definitely want to look at the Emolument clause, possible violations. I think there are probably many of them. We want to look at things like the FBI building fiasco, where the president injected himself into that debate as to where it would be located -- we think for his benefit. We got to figure out when is he acting on behalf of the American people in a lot of his decisions or -- or is he acting on his own behalf."
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