U.S. House to Rename Oversight Hearing Room for Cummings

Since his death last fall, the late Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) has been honored with a memorial service in the U.S. Capitol Building, eulogies from former presidents and legislation named in his honor.

This week, members of Congress are expected to celebrate the late lawmaker’s life in yet another way — by naming a hallowed hearing room in the halls of Congress after him.

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform is expected to officially name its hearing room in the Rayburn House Office Building after Cummings this week, according to several congressional aides. The timing of the event was in flux as of Monday.

Cummings chaired the powerful panel, the House’s main investigative arm, last year until his death. He was the top Democrat on the committee, serving in the minority, for several years as well.

“There is something about his voice that just made you feel better,” former President Obama told mourners at an October memorial service at the New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore, where Cummings worshiped.

In December, the House passed the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, a landmark measure that proponents say would dramatically reduce the rising cost of prescription drugs and significantly expand access to health care benefits and services.

And this year, the House passed a bill that would tighten ethics requirements for presidential transition team members that included provisions originally introduced by Cummings. The measure was passed by the Senate and now awaits the president’s signature.

Cummings is expected to be succeeded, at least for the remainder of the year, by Kweisi Mfume, who won the crowded special Democratic primary to represent the heavily Democratic 7th District. Mfume previously held the seat from 1987 until 1996, when he left to take the helm of the NAACP.

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