Rep. Elijah Cummings, a longtime Maryland Democrat best known for his role as the top congressional watchdog of the Trump administration, was a chief force in propelling the Flint, Mich., water crisis to the national stage. Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, died early Oct. 17 from a prolonged illness at 68. He was a leading figure in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. In 2016, Cummings represented Democrats in a series of high-profile hearings on the government missteps that left Flint, a city of nearly 100,000, with lead-contaminated drinking water. “He is a hero in Flint,” Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), Flint’s congressman, told Bloomberg Environment. Cummings was among the first members of Congress to visit the city, where he spoke to residents to prepare for the oversight hearings on the disaster. Before his visit to Flint, the political figures involved in the crisis had largely escaped scrutiny, Kildee said. The hearings got then-Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy, and other officials to lay out what they knew about the problems in Flint, and when. “His role was not only to bring moral outrage,” Kildee said. “It practically made a difference.” To view the full article visit Bloomberg.
