House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries reportedly delivered a historic eight-hour, forty-four-minute speech on Thursday, blitzing down a late-night attempt by Republicans to secure passage of President Trump’s massive tax-and-spending measure—dubbed the “One Big, Beautiful Bill.”
Jeffries warned vividly that its deep cuts to social programs would have stark human consequences.
“This is a crime scene,” he declared from the well of the House chamber, pacing back and forth amid towering stacks of constituent letters.
“People will die. Tens of thousands, perhaps year after year after year, as a result of the Republican assault on healthcare in America.”
Jeffries described himself reading tales from people across the nation—senior citizens, children, low-income families—whose lifelines to Medicaid, food stamps and other vital supports were severed under the legislation.
The stark numbers from nonpartisan analysts foretold the danger: as many as 11.8 million Americans could lose coverage, while other cuts threaten food, energy, and housing aid.
He paused repeatedly to catch his breath, moving from skepticism to anger. “An ‘abomination,’” he said of the bill’s ideological and fiscal priorities. “It rips food out of the mouths of children, veterans, and seniors in order to reward billionaires.”
Republicans, long-steady in their support, advanced the bill early Thursday with a tight 218–214 vote.
Only two members, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, broke ranks.
The measure extends the 2017 tax cuts, eliminates energy incentives, raises work requirements for Medicaid and food aid, and swells defense and border-security spending.
Speaker Mike Johnson and President Trump pressed lawmakers to uphold its provisions in time for the July 4 recess. Trump himself reportedly made calls to wavering Republicans as the vote neared.
But Jeffries’ strategy—delaying via the House’s “magic minute” privilege—forced Republicans to wait for dawn before final passage. Invoking Martin Luther King Jr. and the late Senator John McCain, he framed the vote as a moral choice.
“This is not democracy,” he said. “This is cruelty disguised as policy.” And yet not without hope: he closed by urging Americans to keep fighting, asserting that the midterm elections offered a chance to hold lawmakers accountable.
As the bill heads to President Trump’s desk, its passage marks a dramatic pivot in federal priorities—one that Democrats argue sacrifices the well-being of millions even as Republicans hail it as an investment in national growth.
In the tense hours of Thursday morning, Jeffries came to embody the Democratic resistance: defiant, impassioned, resolute.
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