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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Commencement Addresses: Congressman Cummings will give the keynote commencement addresses this month at two Baltimore-region universities.  Details are as follows:

On Friday, May 19, Congressman Cummings will speak at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, at 3 p.m.  The graduation ceremony will be held at the 1^st Mariner Arena, 201 W. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD.  Congressman Cummings earned his Juris Doctor degree at UMB’s School of Law in 1976.

On Sunday, May 21, Congressman Cummings will speak to graduates at Morgan State University, a leading Historically Black University in Maryland. At the commencement ceremony, Morgan State will give Congressman Cummings an honorary doctorate of laws.  The commencement will be held at 10 a.m. at W.A.C. Hughes Memorial Stadium, 1700 East Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore, MD. 

Congressman Cummings Continues to Fight for Extended Medicare Part D Deadline

Congressman Cummings expressed disappointment that as of the end of the day on May 15, President Bush had not extended the deadline for Medicare recipients to sign up for the Part D prescription drug program.  As a result, those who have not signed up for the program will be required to pay an extra 7 percent in premiums if they enroll when the next enrollment period opens on November 15, 2006.

Prior to the deadline, polls found that the complicated aspects of the program kept 80 percent of seniors who could benefit from the program from enrolling.  In Baltimore, it is estimated that  least 33,000  seniors who are eligible for the benefit have not enrolled in Part D.  Additionally,  the non-profit group Families USA revealed data showing that 73 percent of low­income Maryland seniors are not receiving the benefits they were promised.  

At a May 9 Baltimore press conference with his colleagues Congressmen Ben Cardin and Dutch Ruppersberger, Congressman Cummings said, “President Bush, you have made the passage of the prescription drug program one of your signature initiatives.  However, the limited enrollment period is not helping seniors, most of whom are on fixed incomes.”

He added, “For seniors, having affordable drug costs is especially critical in a time of rising gas prices, energy costs and overall living expenses.”

Although the deadline ended at midnight on May 15, Congressman Cummings will continue pushing for an extension.  He has cosponsored H.R. 3861, the Medicare Informed Choice Act of 2005, that would:

(1) Provide for an extended period of open enrollment during all of 2006 without late enrollment penalty;

(2) Give Medicare beneficiaries the opportunity to make a one-time change in prescription drug plan enrollment at any point in 2006; and

(3) Provide protection from loss of employment-based retiree health coverage upon enrollment in the Medicare prescription drug benefit, including the Medicare Advantage-Prescription Drug benefit, during 2006.

“Since the program was implemented, I have visited numerous senior centers in this region, and the majority of seniors that I talk to have concluded that the program is too confusing, too costly, or has too many plans from which to choose,” Congressman Cummings said.

In most states, beneficiaries have a choice of more than 36 drug plans.  Premiums, deductibles, co­payments, covered drugs, and pharmacy access vary widely from plan to plan. In Maryland, there are more than 50 qualified plans from which seniors may choose with prices that range from $6.44 to $68.91 per month. 

“It is abundantly clear that our seniors need more time to learn about their options before making this critical health and financial decision and without having to pay a lifetime penalty for not having made a choice by May 15,” Congressman Cummings said.

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Congressman Cummings Responds to President Bush's Immigration Address

In response to President Bush's live national address regarding immigration reform on May 15, Congressman Cummings called for the passage of a reform plan that ensures our nation's security while providing pathways to legalization.

"In light of 9/11 and our war on terrorism, there is no doubt that we need stronger security at our nation's 8,000 miles of international borders with Mexico and Canada,” Congressman Cummings said.  “Unfortunately, under the Bush Administration, our nation has not even provided the funding necessary to engage the 2,000 Border Patrol agents authorized by the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.  The Administration's failure to fund these agents ­­ and to provide adequate funding for other critical aspects of homeland security, like port security ­­ illustrates the fact that immigration reform has simply not been among the Bush Administration's highest priorities.”

The Congressional Research Service estimates that there were more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States in 2005, 4 million of which had arrived in the past five years. 

"These numbers clearly point to our nation's need to develop a comprehensive solution to immigration reform, one that is not simply enforcement­based,” Congressman Cummings said. ”Therefore, it is imperative that we enact complementary policies to deal with the undocumented immigrants already present in the nation and to implement long­term, sustainable policies to improve the patrolling of our borders.”

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Congressman Cummings Applauds Passage of Port Security Legislation, But Argues Additional Measures are Needed

Congressman Cummings joined 420 of his colleagues on May 4 in passing legislation to provide more than $7 billion to improve security at our nation's ports.  Entitled, “The Security and Accountability for Every Port Act (the SAFE Port Act) (H.R. 4954), Congressman Cummings cosponsored, the bill which includes $400 million in annual funding for a port security grant program that allocates federal assistance to U.S. ports.

The legislation would also require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop a strategic plan for resuming trade in the event that international shipping is disrupted by a terrorist attack, develop security standards for all cargo entering the United States, and conduct background checks on all workers at U.S. ports with access to secure areas.

"The overwhelming support that this legislation received shows that Congress is finally beginning to give to port security the kind of attention that has thus far been reserved for aviation security," Congressman Cummings said. "Unfortunately, despite the improvements it would make, H.R. 4954 does not do all that could or should be done at this point to increase security at our ports, because Republicans in the House rejected a measure that would have required all cargo to be scanned before it entered the United States."

Currently, only 5 percent of the nearly 11 million containers that come into our nation each year are inspected, translating to roughly 10,400,000 containers that pass through U.S. ports without physical inspections.

"That is why all containers destined for the U.S. should be scanned before they are loaded on a ship. They should also be sealed in a way that would immediately show if the container had been tampered with prior to its arrival in the United States," Congressman Cummings said.

Congressman Cummings noted that the Republican­controlled House rejected a Democratic amendment that would have more closely scanned foreign­originated containers before they are loaded on a ship.

"I will continue to fight to close all remaining gaps in port security and to lessen the risks posed to the United States by cargo that has not been inspected," Congressman Cummings said.

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Democratic Amtrak Working Group Led by Cummings Asks for Audit of Amtrak's Board of Directors

Congressmen Cummings and his colleagues Congressmen Jerrold Nadler (D­NY) and Brian Baird (D­WA) recently sent a letter to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) requesting an audit of Amtrak's Board of Directors. 

Congressman Cummings served as the lead Democrat on the Amtrak Working Group that was convened by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in October 2005.  The group  examined a report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) entitled “Amtrak Management: Systemic Problems Require Actions to Improve Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Accountability.”  The Working Group reported its formal recommendations to the Transportation Committee in March 2006.

"The Amtrak working group completed an exhaustive examination of the GAO's findings and of the steps that Amtrak has taken to date to improve its financial management systems.  We have found that while there may still be room for improvement, Amtrak's management has implemented measures that have produced significant efficiencies," Congressman Cummings said.  "However, the GAO also cited shortcomings in the oversight provided by the Amtrak Board of Directors, and we have requested the Inspector General to examine specifically whether the Board's structure and activities are appropriate to its oversight responsibilities."

The Democratic members of the Amtrak Working Group have also asked the Inspector General to provide monthly briefings on the audit of Amtrak's Board of Directors.

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Catonsville Student wins Cummings' Congressional Arts Competition

Congressman Cummings announced that a panel of judges from Baltimore's fine arts community selected Ms. Christina Stanton, a senior at Catonsville High School, as the winner of the 2006 Congressional Arts Competition for the 7th Congressional District of Maryland.

Ms. Stanton's piece, "Victor," will be displayed at the U.S. Capitol in June along with art pieces created by 300 other young artists, who won the Congressional Arts Competitions in their respective Congressional Districts.

"I am delighted to showcase the artistic talent of the young people in the 7th Congressional District," Congressman Cummings noted. "This competition is a wonderful opportunity for students to develop and express their creativity through the arts."

More than 50 high school students in the 7th Congressional District entered the competition. Several young artists received awards from curators representing the Walters Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Maryland Art Place, the Maryland Institute College of Art, the National Great Blacks and Wax Museum, and the Peabody Institute.

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$8 million U.S. Marines contract: A company called 180s, LLC located in Baltimore, is being awarded a  $8,084,200 federal contract to deliver 60,108 combat desert jackets for the U.S. Marines.

$756,700 Juvenile Accountability Block Grant: This grant will be provided to the Maryland Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention to support programs that reduce juvenile crime.  The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Justice.

$276,761 disease research grant: Johns Hopkins University will receive this grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct research on sexually-transmitted diseases.

$144,336 arts grant: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded this grant to the Baltimore School for the Arts for special economic development projects.

$50,000 cancer prevention grant: This U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant will be awarded to Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Health to research cancer prevention and treatment in older African American adults.