House Speaker Mike Johnson has slammed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries over the Democrat’s speech delaying a vote on President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful” spending bill.
Johnson said Republicans are eager to pass Trump’s bill in the lower chamber but must wait for Jeffries to finish his speech, which had already lasted more than six hours.
“We’re excited to get this done. If Hakeem would stop talking, we’ll get the job done for the American people,” Johnson told CNN. “It takes a lot longer to build a lie than to tell the truth, so he’s really spinning a long tale in there. But we’re excited. The people will feel the effect of this bill.”
The House Speaker said he will also deliver a speech on the floor, but that it will be “much shorter than the one Jeffries is undertaking.
Johnson had originally hoped to hold a vote on Trump’s bill early Thursday morning after a mammoth and tense negotiating session, which included wrangling several potential GOP defectors on procedural measures needed before the bill could proceed to floor consideration.
Instead, Republicans must wait for Jeffries, who has been speaking on the House floor since just before 5 a.m. ET, using the time to rail against Trump’s bill, which could add trillions to the national deficit and leave millions without healthcare.
Jeffries is allowed to stall the vote thanks to the so-called “magic minute”—which allows party leaders to speak for as long as they wish during a debate.
The New York Democrat has signaled he’s in no rush to end his speech, telling lawmakers he intends to “take my sweet time to tell the stories of the American people.”
“The American people do not deserve to die as a result of the Republican cruelty that’s in this legislation,” Jeffries said, via The Guardian.
Jeffries has also referred to Trump’s legislation as the “one big ugly Republican bill.”
Former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy currently holds the record for the longest House floor speech, clocking in at 8 hours and 32 minutes in 2021.
In April, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker delivered the longest Senate speech in modern history, speaking for more than 25 hours to oppose Trump’s policies.
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