Rep. Elijah Cummings, Maryland Democrat, said Friday that the conflict between him and Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, is about more than just a clash between the two parties.
“It’s much bigger than me. This is about making sure we preserve our democracy,” he said on MSNBC.
Mr. Issa cut off Mr. Cummings’ microphone and adjourned a Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on the IRS targeting of tea party groups without allowing the ranking member to make any remarks. Mr. Cummings says this environment makes it difficult to get things done together.
“He has decided to almost unilaterally address issues like issuing subpoenas that should be committee issues, should be bipartisan issues, he takes it upon himself to do it himself,” he said.
Mr. Cummings also said Mr. Issa’s actions effectively silenced his and other Democrats’ constituent’s voices in Washington.
“When I talk to my colleagues on the Democratic side and some Republicans have said this to me, we can’t operate like this where you’ve got each of us representing 700,000 people, then you have one person decide he’s not going to hear from any of them and he’s going to basically run the committee like he wants to run it,” he said. “All we’re saying is obey the rules.”
• Jacqueline Klimas can be reached at jklimas@washingtontimes.com.
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