September 14, 2022 Press Release WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) delivered remarks at an event unveiling the official portrait of the late Congressman Elijah Cummings. Congressman Cummings chaired the Government Oversight and Reform Committee from January of 2017 until his death on October 17, 2019. The portrait will hang in its final resting spot in the Rayburn House Office Building's Government Oversight and Reform Committee hearing room named after the late Congressman Cummings. Below are excerpts of Congressman Hoyer's remarks: "We are here because somebody who reached his hand, his heart, his head, lifted so many…I don't know whether they have cell service in Heaven, but I know they hear us in Heaven. I know that the bible's comment about, ‘well done, thy good and faithful servant.'…Elijah Cummings was welcomed to Heaven for all that he had done. I think that Elijah and I would both tell you it is not by work that you get to Heaven, it is by faith [and] it is by belief. It is my faith and belief that he used every power that he had….what a challenge the artist had to reflect the power, the goodness, the humanity, the intellect [of] Elijah Cummings." "My Maryland colleagues are all here because we loved Elijah Cummings. Elijah Cummings taught us as we served with him, sat with him, voted with him, worked with him in Maryland and in the Nation's Capital, about duty, honor, country. ‘We're better than that.' What an admonition – to all of us. When we be small, or petty, or partisan, or hateful or bigoted – ‘We're better than that' was the admonition that our dear friend gave to all of us." "Elijah Cummings, made us better, made his country, made his state better. From 9/11 on we have sung ‘God Bless America' over and over. I love that prayer. God blessed America when he gave us Elijah Cummings as a friend, as a colleague, as a husband, as a father, as a son. Elijah Cummings made a difference in the lives of all he touched physically and all he touched with the policies that he passionately pursued." "Thank you, God."