'Master Of The House' | Colleagues Honor Rep. Elijah Cummings In US Capitol Ceremony
WASHINGTON (AP) — A motorcade carrying the body of Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings has departed the U.S. Capitol after a memorial service.
Cummings' widow greeted everyone in the public line through the last visitor Thursday night as he lay in state at the Capitol.
Cummings' casket had been placed earlier in the day in the Capitol's Statuary Hall and was later moved to a passage directly in front of the House chamber, where the Democrat served for 23 years.
A wake and funeral are planned for Friday in Baltimore.
Cummings was the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. He died Oct. 17 after complications from long-standing health problems.
A sharecropper's son, Cummings rose to become a civil rights champion and a leader of an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.
Cummings was hailed as the "North Star" for fellow House Democrats as congressional leaders and colleagues paid tribute to him at Thursday's ceremony.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a close personal and political ally, also said that "Elijah was truly a master of the House."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recalled Cummings' efforts to calm his native Baltimore amid violent 2015 protests following the death of a black man, Freddie Gray, in police custody. Cummings' involvement, taking to the streets with a bullhorn, helped quiet the disturbances.
By day, Cummings was at the Capitol in the halls of power, McConnell said, but at night he returned Baltimore to encourage unity.
"Let's go home. Let's all go home," McConnell recalled Cummings saying at the time. "Now our distinguished colleague truly has gone home."
As a tribute to Cummings, no votes were scheduled Thursday in the House.
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