CUMMINGS TO LIE IN STATE IN THE CAPITOL
WASHINGTON >> Rep. Elijah Cummings, whose death Thursday left both Republicans and Democrats mourning the loss of a lawmaker they praised as passionate and decent, will lie in state in the Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
Cummings, a son of sharecroppers who rose to become one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress and a central figure in the investigations into President Donald Trump, will lie in Statuary Hall, the grand, two-story semicircular room between the Rotunda and the House chamber.
A formal ceremony will occur there Thursday morning, Pelosi said, for members of Congress, the Cummings family and “invited guests.” After the memorial, Cummings’ coffin will be moved just outside the House chamber for a public viewing, a spokesman for Pelosi said.
For more than two decades, Cummings was a representative from Maryland; his district included some of the neediest sections of Baltimore. A former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, he led the House Oversight and Reform Committee. That powerful perch gave him wide latitude to investigate the president, and he used his authority expansively.
As recently as two weeks ago, he was participating in strategy calls about the House’s impeachment inquiry and signing subpoenas from his hospital bed, those close to him said.
His fellow House members spent Thursday and Friday eulogizing him. Rep. Kevin Mccarthy of California, the Republican leader, opened a news conference on Friday by paying homage to Cummings, whom he described as “one of the most important members who’ve walked these halls.”
It is slightly unusual that his body would lie in state in Statuary Hall. Ringed by statues sent by the states, the hall served as the House chamber until 1857. Today, it is often used for formal occasions, including memorial services and luncheons that Congress hosts for newly inaugurated presidents.
Though complete records of Capitol funeral ceremonies are not available, it appears Cummings may be the first African-american lawmaker to lie in state in the Capitol. No African-americans have lain in state in the Rotunda, and only two have lain there in honor: Civil rights leader Rosa Parks in 2005 and Officer Jacob Joseph Chestnut, a Capitol Police officer killed in the line of duty, in 1998.