By Thursday morning, the outcome of the House vote on the “one big, beautiful bill” was all but carved on the Capitol walls. But there were X feeds to light up and TikTok videos to post before the foregone conclusion was a fully gone one.
That’s why Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., given the chance to delay the bill’s inevitable passage, insisted on breaking the record for the longest House floor speech, previously held by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., taking his “magic minute” for a full eight hours and 44 minutes.
As he approached the eight-hour mark, the Democratic side of the aisle swelled and got increasingly rowdy, while the scattered Republicans in the chamber remained largely fixed on their phones. Steps away, a few other Republicans ate bagels in an anteroom while they waited for Jeffries to finish.
