Ranking Member Elijah Cummings issues statement during CNN broadcast earlier today

Ranking Member Elijah Cummings

By: Emily Chassman


Ranking Member Elijah Cummings issued the following statement earlier today in response to the House Oversight Committee Hearing yesterday:


"First of all, I would like to thank everyone in attendance at the hearing today. Unfortunately, as the Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee, I felt a lot of hostility from Chairman Issa. His not sending any democrats the statements he received prior to the Hearing completely discounts proper hearing etiquette in addition to making it much more difficult for me, Congresswoman Speier, and Congressman Kucinich. Also, Chairman Issa failed to give proper time to the Democrats to speak, making it very difficult to get our point across. Whether the lack of time was a result of his fear that, if we were to get our point across, the American people would agree with us, or simply disrespect, it was completely unacceptable and unappreciated by the democrats. Also, the fact that Chairman Issa did not allot us time to speak about relatable topics, yet somehow found it acceptable for Congressman Rose to bring up points about jobs to a Leadership Conference representative is shocking. We hope that, in the future, we are able to have a fair hearing in order to ensure a fact-based decision instead of simply playing politics." #