For those of you who like live legislative action to play from your TV or smartphone as background noise to whatever you’re doing, I have bad news for you: The week of the long speeches is over.
After the Senate’s vote-a-rama on the One Big Beautiful Bill reconciliation spending plan lasted for over 24 hours before being passed on Tuesday, the House took it up, with the Democrats trying to stall for time.
They did, thanks to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries using a tactic similar to the Senate’s filibuster to speak for 8 hours and 44 minutes.
While there is no filibuster in the House, party leaders can speak for what’s known as a “magic minute” without being interrupted. That minute, however, can be extended ad nauseam — in this case, 523 times. It’s a new record for House speeches, lasting from 4:53 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time to 1:37 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, according to The Associated Press. That’s the longest “magic minute” filibuster ever — and, by extension, the longest continuous speech ever given on the House floor.
Whatever he was pumped through with, I bet Joe Biden’s handlers had it for the debate last year.
Not that Jeffries had anything to say, really. I can sum up the entire speech in less than a dozen words: Spending good, plan bad, Republicans trying to kill people. You’ve heard this piffle before, and you’ll doubtlessly hear it again. But have you heard it from a man so obviously stalling for time so that he can try to pry wavering Republican votes away?
Hakeem Jeffries: “I feel the obligation Mr. Speaker to stand on this House floor and take my sweet time.”
He’s actively delaying final vote on the budget bill, giving Americans more time to call their representatives. pic.twitter.com/XU7eOMCMbH
— Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) July 3, 2025
This didn’t work, mercifully, as the bill passed by a 218 to 214 vote and heads to President Donald Trump’s desk by the president’s self-imposed July 4 deadline.
Did you support the One Big Beautiful Bill?
However, getting up to speak after Jeffries ended his “magic minute” 524 minutes after it started, House Speaker Mike Johnson responded with a quip from Ronald Reagan — as well as a few additional touches the Gipper would have appreciated.
Beginning his speech by bringing a prop binder filled to the brim with pages to the lectern with a thump, Johnson drew laughs as he pretended to flip through it with a smile.
He then put it down and began his remarks.
“You know, Ronald Reagan said one time that no speech should be longer than 20 minutes,” Johnson said.
“Unlike the Democrat leader, I’m going to honor my colleague’s time and be a little more brief than that,” he added to applause.
And then another homey, Reagan-esque touch: “I just want to say something many of us learned when we were children: We were taught it takes a lot longer to build a lie than to tell the simple truth.”
🚨 BREAKING: Mike Johnson IMMEDIATELY makes fun of Hakeem Jeffries when he is called up to speak before voting on the bill, mockingly opens up a massive binder
“Unlike the Democrat leader, I’m gonna honor my colleague’s time and be a little more brief.”
“It takes a lot longer… pic.twitter.com/eyJvJkt9Fp
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 3, 2025
There’s literally more truth in the open to this speech than in the entirety of Jeffries’ rambling filibuster. All he did was peddle fear and lies to try and sustain unsustainable spending for the Democrats’ favorite programs — and when that didn’t work, he just made sure to waste everybody’s time.
Forget 20 minutes — the dozen words I used could have conveyed the message appropriately. All it took to embarrass the minority leader was a binder, a Reagan quote, and a hard truth about the truth. Jeffries may have set records, true, but ones which will be remembered in all the wrong ways.
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