Interview with Ranking Member Elijah Cummings and Representative Dennis Kucinich sit down for an exclusive interview with CNN post House Hearing

By: Emily Chassman and Naomi Bernstein


Immediately following today’s second House Oversight Committee Hearing CNN sat down in an exclusive interview with Ranking Member Elijah Cummings and Representative from Ohio ,Dennis Kucinich.

Ranking Member Elijah Cummings

Representative Kucinich

The hostility between the democrats and republicans at today’s hearing was noticeable to all, and the first thing both Cummings and Kucinich wanted to address.  Ms. Cummings explained “the stepping in of Mr. Cantor [for Chairman Issa] made it difficult because he wasn’t familiar with the rules…the democrats [once again] were cut off and not given the full amount of time we should have been allotted to speak.  All in all, I think the democrats did a great job making sure Mr. Henderson and Ms. Chavez had enough time to speak.”  Kucinich added that “Cantor choosing to not cut off members of the Republican Party helped [the democrats] because Mr. Walberg began asking questions of Mr. Henderson that didn’t make sense.  He kept pushing a question that wasn’t getting him anywhere.”

Both Cummings and Kucinich appeared powerful and confident as they rightfully, and respectfully, informed Mr. Cantor of the rules of the hearing, insuring they get their fair amount of allotted time.

As far as the democrat’s strategy moving forward, Cummings stated that he “hopes everyone can come to an understanding regarding affirmative actions.  We want all decisions to come through either the Supreme Court or the state court, but we want the American people to know we support equal opportunity and believe the best way to [ensure equal opportunity] is through affirmative action programs.”  Kucinich added that “republicans need to understand that these programs do not disregard the other aspects of one’s application, but those aspects are viewed in addition to viewing one’s ethnicity in the college process.”

Mr. Cummings and Mr. Kucinich agree that “education is the most important thing” and they assure the American people they will fight so everyone can have an equal opportunity in experiencing that education. #