Hakeem Jeffries sets record with 8-1/2-hour speech before vote on Trump tax bill

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Hakeem Jeffries talked. And talked. And talked, as the top Democrat in the House of Representatives on Thursday blasted President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cut and spending bill in the longest speech in the chamber’s history.

Jeffries’ speech, at 8 hours and 46 minutes, marked Democrats’ last chance to prosecute their case against the $3.4 trillion package. 

Lacking the votes to defeat the measure in a chamber that Republicans control by a slim 220-212 margin, Jeffries, 54, railed against legislation that he characterized as a giveaway to the wealthy that would strip low-income Americans of federally-back health insurance and food aid benefits.

“It’s not the type of leadership that this country needs right now. But that’s what we’re getting. Chaos. Cruelty. And corruption,” he said.

Jeffries began speaking at 4:53 a.m. and wrapped up at 1:38 p.m.

That broke a 2021 House record sent by then-House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, who spent 8 hours and 32 minutes lambasting Democratic President Joe Biden’s clean-energy and domestic-spending package.

Shortly after Jeffries concluded his speech, the House voted 218-214 to pass the bill. Every Democrat and two Republicans opposed it.

His speech recalled that of another Democratic lawmaker, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who broke the record for the longest Senate speech in April with a 25-hour, five-minute attack on Trump’s unilateral firings of federal workers.

Booker’s performance drew cheers from Democratic voters who have been frustrated by their party’s powerlessness in Washington and have accused the party’s leaders of being too meek.

Jeffries used his status as Democratic leader to stretch his customary 60-second speaking time, known as a “magic minute,” for hours.

Jeffries made clear he also had his eye on a prize further down the road.

Voters, Jeffries said, “will get even” in the November 2026 midterm elections “because of these cuts being unleashed on the American people.”

If Democrats win control of the House, Jeffries would be positioned to make history again by becoming the first Black House speaker in the Congress that convenes at the start of 2027.

Early into his speech, Jeffries showcased sick children in Republicans’ home districts who might eventually lose Medicaid coverage under the legislation. It was a maneuver that could increase coverage of his speech in local media across the country.

Jeffries pulled no punches.

He said the bill was “ripping healthcare” from Americans and called it “shameful,” “disgusting” and “reckless.”

“This is a crime scene and House Democrats want no part of it,” he said.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; editing by Andy Sullivan and Alistair Bell)