House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy unleashed a marathon tirade overnight in opposition to President Biden’s social spending bill, ranting for more than eight hours on the House floor and breaking a record for the chamber’s longest continuous speech in modern history.
McCarthy (R-Calif.) spoke for 8 hours and 33 minutes and ripped the nearly $2 trillion Build Back Better package as the “single most reckless and irresponsible spending bill in our nation’s history.”
“Let me be clear: Never in American history has so much been spent at one time — at one time,” McCarthy seethed in his monologue, which began at 8:38 p.m. Thursday and finished at 5:11 a.m. Friday.
“Never in American history will so many taxes be raised and so much borrowing to be needed to pay for all this reckless spending.”
The House GOP leader attacked almost every proposal included in the legislation, which Republicans insist will cause long-term damage to the US economy, before railing against other policies of the Biden administration and calling Democrats “out of touch” with the needs and wishes of ordinary Americans.
“If I sound angry, I am. I’m just getting geared up, go just sit,” McCarthy said after several hours. “I know you don’t like me, but that’s OK.”
“I know some of you are mad at me, think I spoke too long,” he said at another point in his remarks. “But I’ve had enough. America has had enough.”
Among the topics McCarthy touched on in his soliloquy were inflation, immigration, the threat of a rising China, his childhood in California, the Lincoln presidency, the Jim Crow era, even the influence of the movie “Red Dawn” on his politics.
Throughout the night, McCarthy sparred with heckling Democrats who repeatedly interrupted him. At one point, he warned them, “that’s all right, I got all night” before announcing his plan to go through the 2,000-page bill section by section.
Typically, floor speeches last one minute during House debates, but McCarthy took advantage of the prerogative granted party leaders to speak as long as they wish.
At around midnight, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) came into the House chamber and indicated to the dozen or so Democrats who had not already left that there would not be a vote when McCarthy gave up the floor due to the late hour.
As he began to wrap up his speech, McCarthy joked, “this one minute feels almost like eight hours now.”
“This is the longest one minute I’ve ever given, it’s the longest one minute ever given in this body,” he added. “There’s a reason why.”
“This is a tipping point, this is a point of not coming back from,” McCarthy went on. “The American people have spoken, but unfortunately the Democrats have not listened.”
Prior to McCarthy’s monologue, the modern-day record for the longest speech in the House was held by Pelosi, who delivered her own eight-hour floor remarks back in 2018 in support of immigration law changes.
The House is expected to vote on the spending bill Friday.
With Post wires
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