Cable News Clips

Three months later, as July gets underway, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries didn’t manage to speak for 25 hours, but the New York Democrat, like Booker, broke his own institution’s record.

As of 1:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, Jeffries was continuing to deliver remarks after speaking for more than eight hours and 35 minutes.

During congressional debates, the vast majority of members are only allowed to deliver brief, minute-long remarks. But three members — the House speaker, majority leader and minority leader — can exploit what are known as “magic minutes,” allowing them to speak as long as they wish.

In 2018, for example, Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House minority leader at the time, stood on the House floor for over eight hours, seeking a vote on protections for Dreamers. It broke the institution’s record for the longest speech ever delivered on the House floor.

Three years later, then-Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California broke Pelosi’s record, holding the floor to condemn the Democrats’ Build Back Better legislation.

Now, it’s Jeffries, who made a devastating case against the inaptly named One Big Beautiful Bill Act, who holds the top slot.

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Link to tweet

......The Democratic leader might not have changed any GOP minds, but his record-breaking presentation brought some much-needed attention to the case against the most regressive legislative package in at least a generation.