It is both a privilege and an honor to represent you in the United States Congress. While serving you, I will continue my outreach efforts to inform you of my legislative actions. I welcome your advice. Government “by the people” is the cornerstone of my legislative philosophy.

To better serve you closer to home, I invite you to visit or contact any of my three district offices, conveniently located in Baltimore City, Catonsville and Ellicott City.

Please feel free to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Summer Learning Programs for Baltimore City Students: Congressman Cummings joins Baltimore City Public School officials in urging parents to take advantage of summer learning programs available to Baltimore City youth this summer.  Free programs are available for students who are entering Pre-K through high school.  The Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) summer learning programs include:

• The Extended School Year Services for grades Pre-K through 12, which extend specific services beyond the regular school year that are designed to meet targeted goals for student improvement;
• The Early Learning Program which offers Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade students in all schools the opportunity to improve grade-level concepts, reinforce skills, and accelerate learning;
• The Title I Summer Program, which will benefit incoming 3rd through 8th grade students in Title I schools, giving them opportunities to improve grade-level concepts and providing a structure to support their transition from elementary to middle school in the 6th grade program;
• The High School Summer Review Program targeted for students currently in 9th through 12th grade is designed to provide students with an opportunity to maintain course sequence, receive appropriate assistance, and work toward credit recovery as part of the High School Remedy Plan; and
• The High School Summer Bridge Program, which provides incoming 9th grade students with a structure to support the transition from 8th grade (middle school) to 9th grade (high school).

To assist parents in boosting student attendance, punctuality, and academic performance, the BCPSS will provide free bus transportation and reduced MTA cards for eligible students who regularly commute to school throughout the school year. In addition, a healthy, nutritious breakfast will be served in neighborhood schools open for summer programs. Breakfast will be available daily at no cost to all elementary age neighborhood children regardless of where they are enrolled in school. Lunch will also be available at no cost to middle school students attending school summer programs and to children living in the community.  For more information on enrollment and summer learning opportunities call 410-396-8080.

Defense Appropriations Bill Earmarks More than $6 Million for Area Institutions

Congressman Cummings has successfully helped secure the following two projects in the Fiscal Year 2007 Defense Appropriations bill (H.R. 5631) that recently cleared the House in a 400 to 18 vote:

$3 million for the Kennedy Krieger Institute to help fund Advanced Restoration Therapies program.  The technology used in this rehabilitation regimen will help stimulate normal movements for those who have lost their limbs while serving on active military duty. 

$2 million for Morgan State University’s Knowledge Integration and Management Center of Excellence to fund the University’s computer scientists and engineers in further advancing sensor technology utilized by Army soldiers on the battlefield.

H.R. 5631 is now being considered by the Senate.

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Cummings Applauds Passage of Landmark Civil Rights Legislation and Defeat of Controversial Provisions

On July 13, the House passed the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, H.R. 9, by a margin of 390 to 33.  Congressman Cummings voted for its passage. 

The bi-partisan legislation passed the House without the four divisive amendments supported by a handful of conservative Republicans who had hoped to weaken the landmark Civil Rights legislation.

“The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is often called the most important civil rights law of all and is still critical in our time,” Congressman Cummings said.  “I am proud of my colleagues for standing up for justice and overwhelmingly passing H.R. 9 without the four amendments that served as poison pills for the extension and renewal of the Voting Rights Act of 1964.”

The poison pill amendments called for reauthorizing the legislation for ten years, rather than the 25 years proposed in H.R. 9; striking the provision that ensures that all American citizens, regardless of language ability, are able to participate in elections on a fair and equal basis; exempting states with historically discriminatory voting practices from having to seek preclearance of election law changes from the Justice Department; and giving the Attorney General authority to expedite the process states and localities use for exemption from Section 5 preclearance requirements.

“Any amendment to weaken the Voting Rights Act is a debasement of our democracy,” Congressman Cummings said.  “We still have a long way to go to ensure that every vote is counted and that every vote counts. Unfortunately, there will continue to be efforts to use deliberate and reprehensible tactics to deny African Americans and other minority citizens the right to vote. That is why the Voting Rights Act is still a necessity.”

Following the bill’s passage, Congressman Cummings noted that this action was a rare bipartisan effort to preserve and strengthen our nation’s ideals of justice and equality.

“The House upheld a solemn pledge today. We stayed true to our obligation to democracy and to our commitment to equal protection under the law.”

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Cummings Pushing to Increase Minimum Wage

In Washington, Congressman Cummings, along with his fellow Democrats, continues to push for an increase in the  federal minimum wage.

Currently, this rate is $5.15 per hour, which has not changed since 1997.

“It is high time for the minimum wage to be raised because its value has diminished due to inflation,” Congressman Cummings said.

In the last nine years, the cost of gas, utilities, housing, healthcare and college tuition have increased substantially in the aftermath of the dot­com bust and the recession. For example, the typical family is paying $1,200 more a year for health insurance, college tuition has gone up about 40 percent, gas prices have doubled since 2001 and housing is the least affordable it has been in 14 years.

Congressman Cummings said, “Someone who earns minimum wage at a full­time job earns just $10,700 a year, leaving them well below the poverty line if they have two dependents.” 

By comparison, the Economic Policy Institute reports that the average CEO of a large company (with at least $1 billion in annual revenues) made $10,700 in just over two hours. 

Congressman Cummings noted that 71 percent of minimum wage workers are over the age of 20 and help contribute to their family incomes. In addition, about 600,000 minimum wage earners are single parents who are working to support their children.

“Working Americans deserve a raise,” Congressman Cummings said.

In early June, House Democrats led a successful effort to add a provision in the Fiscal Year 2007 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill to increase the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over two years.                 

“Although this amount is still much below a minimum wage indexed to inflation, this is a good start,” Congressman Cummings said.  “If the minimum wage were indexed to inflation, it would be $9.05 per hour today.”

While some opponents of raising the minimum wage claim that it increases unemployment, research conducted by the Center for American Progress shows that employment in small businesses grew in states with a higher minimum wage than states that observe the federal minimum wage.

Congressman Cummings said, “Sadly, House Republican leaders are refusing to bring this bill to the full House floor while giving high priority to legislation that would only benefit the heirs of the wealthiest Americans and drive our nation deeper into debt.”

In the meantime, Congressman Cummings applauded the Maryland State Legislature for overriding Governor Bob Ehrlich's veto last January in order to enact Maryland H.B. 391 into law ­ giving Maryland's working families a raise by increasing the minimum wage to $6.15 per hour.

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Cummings, Souder Release Report on Clinical Lab Quality

Congressman Cummings, who is the Ranking Member of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, was joined by his colleague, Subcommittee Chairman Mark Souder (R-Ind.) recently to release the  Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled, “Clinical Lab Quality: CMS and Survey Organization Oversight Should Be Strengthened.”       

                                               
Congressmen Cummings and Souder, along with U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) requested in October 2004 that the GAO investigate the performance of the federal regulatory system with regards to medical laboratory testing.   The request was made following two congressional hearings that examined reports that medical laboratories in Maryland and other places around the nation had given questionable lab test results to patients due to faulty lab equipment. 

“Clinical labs are a crucial aspect of our health care system.  A full 70 percent of medical decisions are affected by lab results.  As virtually every American undergoes lab testing at some point, patients and physicians must be able to rely on the accuracy of those tests to make  appropriate decisions about medical care and treatment,” Congressman Cummings said at a press conference releasing the report.  “Our interest in this issue was piqued by the distressing story of Kristin Turner, a young lab technician at Maryland General Hospital who contracted HIV and Hepatitis C in 2003 when the machine she was using malfunctioned, splattering her with infected blood.”

Congressman Cummings added, “Sadly, the injustice imposed on Ms. Turner did not end there. She had long been horrified by the conditions of the lab, and has been an outspoken critic of the lab’s quality even before she was infected with HIV and Hepatitis C.  Ms. Turner's efforts to blow the whistle on these injustices only increased after the incident, and she lost her job.”

Ms. Turner's whistle­blowing was the only way the public and appropriate authorities learned about the fact that over a 14-month period, more than 2,000 patients were issued invalid HIV and Hepatitis C test results, Congressman Cummings noted.

“It was only because of her selflessness that we discovered that there were serious lapses in our nation's clinical laboratory oversight system,” he added.

Since that time, Congressman Cummings has worked with the College of American Pathologists, Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), Maryland General Hospital and state officials to fix these problems, by implementing and enforcing a stricter set of lab oversight rules to prevent any such reoccurrence.

“But the story of what happened in Maryland made those of us in the federal government question whether this public health problem might be more widespread,” Congressman Cummings said, in explaining why he requested the GAO report.

As to the report, Congressman Cummings observed that the GAO stated that it could not conduct a system­wide analysis because the necessary data did not exist.

• What the GAO did find, however, were the same shortcomings discovered in the 2004 Congressional hearings
• Would­be whistleblowers are discouraged from reporting lab failures for fear of retaliation from lab workers;
• A focus on so­called "education" over imposing sanctions by inspectors makes hiding deficiencies easier; and,
• The collegial composition of lab inspection oversight teams often presents a conflict of interest.

In the report, GAO also makes a series of recommendations for how lab oversight could be improved, including:

• Standardizing the reporting of survey deficiencies to allow for meaningful analysis; and
• Working with accrediting organizations to ensure that educational efforts do not preclude appropriate regulation.

The GAO reported that CMS concurred with 11 of GAO's 13 recommendations and noted that these recommendations will serve to provide greater insight to increasing and reinforcing its oversight.

Prior to the issuance of the GAO Report, Congressman Cummings introduced the "Clinical Laboratory Compliance Improvement Act" (currently H.R. 686) in the 108th and 109th Congresses to address regulatory shortcomings in the clinical laboratory accrediting process.  The bill would institute many of the reforms GAO recommended, including: establishing whistleblower protections for employees of clinical labs; requiring labs to post signs to encourage whistleblowers to come forward; requiring reporting to the Department of Health and Human Services; and requiring that accreditation surveys be unannounced.

In January 2007, the College of American Pathologists (CAP),  one of the main lab accreditation agencies, is slated to begin unannounced clinical lab visits.  CAP also voluntarily instituted a toll-free number for lab employees to anonymously report lab testing violations. 

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$25,563,386 for the Housing Authority of Baltimore City and $88,443 for Howard County Housing Commission: These respective grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will help fund the building, development and rehabilitation of public housing units.

$248,364 for veterans: The U.S. Department of Labor provided this grant to the Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training to expedite the reintegration of homeless veterans into the job force.  

$272,893 for Coppin State University, and $188,424 for the University of Maryland, Baltimore: These two grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will help provide scholarships for disadvantaged students.