Save for laterRep. Elijah E. Cummings, a 12-term congressman, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee and a key player in the ongoing impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, died early Thursday of complications from longtime health issues. The Maryland Democrat was 68.
John Sarbanes
Images of the Maryland lawmaker from the CQ Roll Call archives
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., interviewed by Roll Call in his Rayburn House Office Building office. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Before two-week recess starts, Pelosi touts bill House passed 200 days ago
Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a Thursday news conference in the Capitol. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
As House Democrats pursue an impeachment inquiry based largely on possible campaign finance violations against President Donald Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democrats sought a fresh spotlight for their stalled political money, ethics and elections overhaul measure.
The House passed the bill by a vote of 234-193 along party lines on March 8, 200 days ago, the California Democrat noted.
Illinois Republican’s bill is unlikely to move in Democrat-controlled House
Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis says public financing of campaigns will fill the swamp. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Rep. Rodney Davis said Tuesday he was introducing a bill to ban public financing of congressional campaigns, hitting at a signature piece of House Democrats’ political money overhaul.
“Public financing of campaigns will fill the swamp, and any member who voted for it was voting to fill their own pockets and the pockets of political operatives nationwide,” the Illinois Republican said on the House floor Tuesday afternoon, according to remarks sent out by his office.
Rep. Lou Correa cites Mueller's findings as a need for a group to help head off future attacks
Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., is asking Speaker Nancy Pelosi to form a select committee that would examine election security proposals. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Rep. Lou Correa is asking Speaker Nancy Pelosi to form a task force to examine proposals for combating foreign influence and ensuring U.S. electoral systems are secure, according to a letter obtained by CQ Roll Call.
The House Homeland Security and Judiciary Committee member wrote to his fellow California Democrat citing Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s findings that foreign actors compromised U.S. election security as reason such a group is needed.
First-term lawmakers want to see Senate action on ethics overhaul
Rep. Max Rose, D-N.Y., was among the freshman House Democrats urging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow consideration of HR 1. "He won't even take a meeting with us," Rose says of McConnell. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
While it is not quite an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, the metaphor is close enough: Freshman House Democrats who roared into the majority in January with ambitious legislative plans are increasingly facing the reality of a Senate majority leader who has little interest in what they want.
The latest reality check came on Wednesday when a substantial portion of first-year House Democrats — 62 members — urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to act on HR 1, a sweeping House-passed bill that seeks to fortify ethics rules for public officials, overhaul campaign finance and expand access to voting.
Vulnerable Democrats may be more open to impeachment but aren’t ready to go there yet
Democrat strategists who’ve worked on competitive House races largely agree that impeachment is a losing issue for the party trying to hold the House in 2020. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Congressional Democrats have a decision to make: Where are they going on impeachment, and at what political cost?
A group that has been pushing since 2017 for President Donald Trump’s impeachment will be airing ads this weekend in Iowa and New Hampshire urging Democratic leaders to take action.
Some members still want to press ahead, while others still aren’t convinced impeachment is best path
House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., departs Wednesday after meeting with House Democrats to discuss possible impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. (Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call)
Updated 2:11 p.m. | A Wednesday morning discussion by House Democrats on oversight matters did little to resolve a stewing intraparty debate about whether to open an impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump, but it did set off the president.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi organized the meeting to continue to hold her caucus back from heading down an impeachment path with an unknown outcome that could backfire on her party. As she left the discussion to go to the White House to meet with Trump on infrastructure, she had harsh words for the president.
Contributions sometimes go through other lawmakers or party committees
Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., Malinowski, says he is proud he doesn’t take direct contributions from corporate PACs. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Corporate PAC money is yucky, but if it comes via contributions from other lawmakers or party committees, the taste seems to suddenly improve.
That’s the message from many incumbents in the club of 50-something Democratic lawmakers who refuse corporate political action committee dollars but still accept donations from colleagues and party committees that take the derided funds.
First hearing of new modernization committee turns into a brainstorming session
Reps. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., left, and John Sarbanes, D-Md., are seen in between testimony during a Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress business meeting in the Capitol on Tuesday. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer kicked off the first hearing of the new Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress with a plea for a return of something from the past: earmarks.
The Maryland Democrat was the first among 30 lawmakers who offered ideas Tuesday to the temporary and bipartisan panel, which has been charged with making recommendations about how to update Congress for the modern era.
With Senate not planning to take it up, Democrats plan to continue fight into 2020
Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., led Democrats' effort to draft the HR 1 government overhaul package as chair of the Democracy Reform Task Force. The House passed the measure Friday on a party-line vote. (Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call file photo)
With passage of HR 1, House Democrats’ political money, ethics and voting overhaul, the mammoth proposal now heads exclusively to the 2020 campaign trail, where candidates in both parties say they believe their message will woo voters.
The House passed the measure 234-193 Friday morning. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the bill’s foe in chief, has assured his side he plans to officially ignore it in his chamber, refusing to bring it for a vote even as the Kentucky Republican said Wednesday that he believed his party could win elections against people who support it.
