Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries has broken former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s record for longest floor speech in an attempt to delay voting on Trump’s destructive budget bill.
The House minority leader on Thursday spoke for more than eight and a half hours in an attempt to delay a vote on the bill, which is expected to rip away health care for the most vulnerable Americans in exchange for tax breaks for the wealthy.
“I feel the obligation Mr. Speaker to stand on this House floor and take my sweet time to tell the stories of the American people. And that’s exactly what I intend to do. Take my sweet time, on the behalf of the American people. And that’s exactly what I intend to do,” Jeffries said on Thursday. “On behalf of their health insurance. On behalf of their Medicaid. On behalf of their nutritional assistance. On behalf of veterans. On behalf of farmers. On behalf of children. On behalf of seniors. On behalf of people with disabilities, on behalf of small businesses, on behalf of every single American. I’m on this House floor after 6 a.m, and I am planning to take my sweet time!”
“Folks in this town talking about draining the swamp—guess what? You are the swamp,” Jeffires said hours later. “You are the swamp. We’ve never seen anything like this. The type of corruption that has been unleashed on the American people.”
Jeffries is still speaking at the time of this writing. His efforts, while impressive, will likely do nothing to ultimately halt the budget bill, as the GOP still has the majority.
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