By Mfume Press Office
On Dec. 4, the United States of Representatives passed legislation (H.R. 9544) introduced by Congressman Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.-07) in the U.S. House of Representatives to designate a Baltimore United States Post Office (USPS) as the ‘‘United States Representative Elijah E. Cummings Post Office Building.” The bill to rename the post office at 340 South Loudon Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland, in honor of Congressman Cummings now heads to the United States Senate for consideration. Companion legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md).
“Congressman Elijah Cummings was a person of deep intellect, unlimited compassion and a champion for working people everywhere. This House and our nation still feel his loss, which makes the renaming of this post office in his honor a fitting tribute to our dear friend,” said Rep. Mfume. “I am elated that this legislation has prevailed out of the U.S. House of Representatives. It is a small but important gesture to say thank you to Congressman Elijah Cummings for the work he did, for so many years, for the people of Baltimore and the state of Maryland.”
“Elijah was a trailblazer, consensus builder, peacemaker and friend. His name and his image will now be a part of this building for all to see,” he concluded.
“I am proud to have introduced this bill in the Senate and am glad to see it has passed the House. I look forward to this important bill passing the Senate so that we can honor the life and work of Elijah Cummings. His life of public service is an example for us all,” said Sen. Cardin.
“Congressman Elijah Cummings was a man of principle. A man of incredible dignity. And a man with a purpose. Nowhere did he work harder to achieve the mission of equal justice and equal opportunity for all than in his beloved Baltimore community. With the House’s passage of our legislation today, we’re one step closer in recognizing all that Elijah did for his city, his state and his country,” said Sen. Van Hollen.
“On behalf of the Cummings family, we thank Congressman Mfume and Senators Cardin and Van Hollen for keeping alive the legacy of my father, their friend, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings. We are deeply grateful for all of their work to rename a district post office in recognition of his commitment to public service, including his work on postal issues that came before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee,” said Jennifer Cummings, the late congressman’s eldest daughter, upon the legislation’s introduction.
The introduction of this legislation was an effort in partnership with the Cummings family, who wrote to Congressman Mfume in August 2024. Their letter expressed the Cummings family’s support to honor Congressman Cummings with the renaming of a post office after their father. On November 20, 2024, this bill was passed unanimously by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability and sent to the floor for consideration by the entire U.S. House.
The life of Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
Congressman Cummings was born in Baltimore on January 18, 1951. His father worked at a chemical factory and his mother worked at a pickle factory and later as a maid while raising seven children. Both parents came from Southern sharecropping families.
Elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1982, Mr. Cummings became the youngest Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus and the first African American elected speaker pro tem by the body, a permanent role in the Maryland House. He served in that chamber for 14 years, during which he worked tirelessly to advance the rights and opportunities of Maryland residents.
In 1996, Mr. Cummings won the seat in the U.S. House of Representatives that Congressman Mfume vacated to become NAACP president, launching a 23-year career in Congress during which he advocated on behalf of all people, including lower-income and working-class Americans.
Where others saw problems and danger, he saw opportunities and solutions. He advanced measures to improve education, to expand affordable housing, to curb addiction, to enhance public infrastructure, to promote gun safety and to reform police practices. He worked to erase the racial and class divides that he had grown up with, so that future generations of Baltimoreans would not face the same obstacles he did.
Congressman Cummings became chair of the Congressional Black Caucus in 2002, where he pushed to increase funding for public education and the Head Start program.
After the tragic death of Freddie Gray, Congressman Cummings went to the streets to ask the citizens of Baltimore to come together and find a peaceful path forward. Then, true to form, he launched into action, pushing hard for policies and programs to help the city recover.
As Ranking Member and then Chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Mr. Cummings spearheaded much of the impeachment inquiry of former President Trump, and led probes relating to Trump’s family members serving in the White House. In this role, Congressman Cummings also had jurisdiction over postal issues and led the charge to pass the Postal Service Reform Act to ensure the financial solvency of the U.S. Postal Service until his passing in 2019. A version of the legislation ultimately became law in 2022.
He was passionate about rooting out corruption, protecting our democracy and achieving equality and freedom for all. He fought for what was right, simply because it was right.
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