Kevin McCarthy speaks for more than eight Hours to obstruct Biden's social-spending bill
The House minority leader began talking at 8:38 p.m. Thursday. He stopped a little after 5 a.m. Friday, making record in longest continuous House speech in modern history
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy broke a record for the longest speech in the US House of Representatives in opposition to the Democrats' social policy bill, surpassing eight hours of continuous floor time early Friday morning.
"Personally, I didn't think I could go this long," Mr. McCarthy said toward the end of his monologue, which began after 8 p.m. Finally, after 5 a.m., he finished. "With that, Madam Speaker, I yield back," he said, report New York Times.
Mr. McCarthy, the top Republican, railed against President Biden and his agenda in an effort to delay the passage of the Democrats' $1.85 trillion social policy and climate change bill.
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He beat a record set by Nancy Pelosi, then minority leader, who spoke for eight hours and seven minutes in February 2018 on immigration policy.
The debate over the bill had been scheduled to last 20 minutes before Mr. McCarthy took over to deliver an at times rambling speech stuffed with Republican talking points against the legislation and punctuated with riffs about history.
"I know some of you are mad at me, think I spoke too long," he said at one point. "But I've had enough. America has had enough."
Shortly after midnight Friday, when Mr. McCarthy showed no sign of yielding control of the House floor, Democratic leaders sent lawmakers home, with plans to return at 8 a.m. to finish debate and vote on the sprawling package.
McCarthy was allowed to speak so long by using the so-called magic-minute rule, which grants party leaders unlimited speaking time in certain situations. Unlike the Senate, the House has no filibuster. Ms. Pelosi used the tactic when she was minority leader in 2018 to speak for just over eight hours about the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers.
The speech by Ms. Pelosi was thought at the time to have set the record for the longest continuous speech in the chamber, dating to at least 1909.
"It is a feat of epic proportions to speak for four hours straight and not produce a single memorable phrase, original insight or even a joke," Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, wrote on. "McCarthy thinks he is a wit but so far he has proved he is only half right."
