After a dramatic session, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries has delivered the longest floor speech in modern House history, a forceful eight-plus-hour denunciation of the president’s marquee domestic policy bill which he called an “abomination”.
“Shame on this institution if this bill passes,” Jeffries said, as Democrats chanted shame. “We are better than this.”
In a fiery speech now lasting eight hours and 44 minutes, Jeffries has used the House’s “magic minute” rule — a tradition allowing party leaders unlimited speaking time — to delay the vote and attack the bill’s deep cuts to healthcare and welfare programs.
“We are going to continue as Democrats to take our sweet time on behalf of the American people because the issues are too significant to ever walk away from,” Jeffries declared to cheers.
He urged moderate Republicans to defect, saying: “Join us! Just four, y’all. We welcome you.”
Jeffries has labelled the bill a “crime scene” that takes a “chainsaw” to Medicare, Medicaid, food assistance and other social safety nets. Surrounded by binders of personal testimonies, he’s been reading stories of Americans who could lose healthcare, nutrition support and vital benefits.
“People will die. Tens of thousands, perhaps year after year after year, as a result of the Republican assault on the healthcare of the American people.”
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The final vote is expected late Thursday or early Friday, after a night of behind-the-scenes pressure from Trump himself. The former president reportedly made dozens of calls to GOP lawmakers, and lashed out on Truth Social:
“What are the Republicans waiting for??? What are you trying to prove??? MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT’S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!”
Despite internal Republican concerns about the bill’s impact on the national debt and working-class Americans, House Speaker Mike Johnson remained upbeat, crediting Trump’s “personal involvement” for progress.
Jeffries who took the floor just before 5 am Thursday, broke the record of Kevin McCarthy’s 2021 record of 8 hours and 32 minutes.