In a dramatic act of resistance on the House floor, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., shattered the record for the longest speech in U.S. House history, speaking for over eight and a half hours in an impassioned attempt to stall the Republican budget bill central to Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
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Jeffries’ marathon address began shortly before 5 a.m. and eclipsed the previous record set by former GOP leader Kevin McCarthy in 2018. The speech—delivered under the House’s “magic minute” rule, which grants party leaders unlimited time—was aimed at delaying a vote on a sweeping Trump-backed bill that includes deep cuts to Medicaid and SNAP benefits.
“I’m taking my sweet time on behalf of the American people,” Jeffries said during the speech, flanked by thick binders filled with personal stories submitted by constituents and advocacy groups.
As Trump begins his second term in the White House, Republicans have moved swiftly to implement his policy priorities with a bill they call the “big, beautiful bill”—a sweeping package that slashes federal social safety net programs in favor of tax breaks and deregulation. The bill had stalled briefly due to internal GOP disagreements, but key holdouts flipped their votes overnight, setting the stage for its passage in the House.
Jeffries’ extended floor speech may not stop the bill, but it has forced a delay in the voting timeline and galvanized opposition.
“This bill is not about fiscal responsibility,” Jeffries said. “It’s about cruelty disguised as governance—taking from those with the least to give more to those with the most.”
Jeffries’ remarks harshly criticized the Trump administration and its Republican allies in Congress, accusing them of targeting the poor and working-class Americans while favoring the ultra-wealthy and corporations.
This act of defiance mirrors a growing pattern of procedural resistance by Democratic leaders against what they describe as radical overreach by the Trump administration and the GOP majority. Jeffries now holds the distinction of delivering the longest House speech in U.S. history, surpassing McCarthy’s own 8-hour, 32-minute speech in 2021—ironically delivered in protest of Democratic legislation at the time.
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