A Thursday-into-Friday overnight House session was anything but sleepy.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy broke the record (one previously set by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi) for the longest consecutive House speech in modern history during remarks beginning Thursday evening and ending near dawn on Friday.
As House Democrats on Thursday moved to pass President Joe Biden’s nearly $2 trillion social spending bill, McCarthy, a California Republican, used a House procedure granted to leadership known as the “magic minute” that allows them to speak for as long as they want while only taking up one minute from the time allotted for debate. Pelosi’s previous record was an 8-hour-and-7-minute speech on immigration that she delivered in 2018, when the California Democrat was the House minority leader.
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After delivering wide-ranging remarks that included a criticism of the “Build Back Better” plan, the Democrats’ agenda as a whole, barbs with his Democratic colleagues, and even agricultural practices, McCarthy ended his comments at 8 hours and 32 minutes. Here are some of the notable moments from the overnight speech:
1. When McCarthy was exchanging barbs with Democrats in the chamber, he was asked to follow House procedure and to address the chair.
“I can look anywhere I want, Mr. Speaker!” McCarthy replied. “Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe the amount of control one-party rule wants! They now want to dictate to a member of the floor of where I can look! Are you afraid of the basis of the information in the bill?”
2. When McCarthy referenced Rep. Abigail Spanberger, having recently said about the president, “No one elected Joe Biden to be FDR,” the Virginia Democrat called out, “I did!”
3. McCarthy theorized alternative events in American history: “What would happen if Abraham Lincoln wasn’t assassinated?” he asked.
4. “Have you ever eaten one of these baby carrots?” he said. “There is no such thing. They are just big carrots and chop them into little.”
5. “Gas prices! Thanksgiving!” he shouted at one point.
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Pelosi mocked the speech in taking back the floor on Friday morning, saying, “With respect to the people who work in this Capitol, and as a courtesy to my colleagues, I will be brief.”
