WATCH: Elijah Cummings annihilates Michigan governor Rick Snyder during Flint hearing

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) fiercely questioned Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Thursday during a House committee hearing over the water crisis in Flint.

"There is no doubt in my mind that if a corporate CEO did what Governor Snyder's administration has done, he would be hauled up on criminal charges," Cummings said during his opening statement.

“There will now be an entire generation of children who suffer from brain damage, learning disorders, and many other horrible effects of lead poisoning that were afflicted on them by Gov. Snyder’s administration,” he added.

Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, later accused Snyder of failing to act despite being aware of the lead problem in Flint.

Reading emails from Snyder's administration, Cummings suggested that senior staff knew about the problem.

"It seems like there are two basic possibilities. Either your chief of staff told you about these concerns and you did nothing, or he didn't tell you and you are an absentee governor," he concluded.