The leader of the US representatives, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, managed to delay the vote on the important fiscal plan nicknamed “great and beautiful bill” by President Donald Trump, who quickly moved on Tuesday in the Senate.
The critical congressman of the presidential agenda was able to interrupt the vote with the aid of a resource called “magic minute”, which allows the homes party leaders to speak for their time without interruption. He spoke slowly, taking long breaks between words and phrases, for more than seven hours, a resource in the modern history of the House.
In 2021, former Republican Deputy Kevin McCarthy also used the parliamentary resource for more than eight hours to delay the voting of a bill of then President Joe Biden to dramatically expand the social security network.
Jeffries began his speech on Thursday: “I feel obligation, Mr. President, to attend the House Plenary and enjoy my time,” he said critically for the speed with which Trump’s fiscal project was discussed in the Senate.
The leader of the Democratic minority has described the budget plan proposed by the president of the United States as “a large and ugly bill” that “our republicans are trying to stick down the throat below the American people and will undermine their quality of life.”
According to him, “Congress is about to pull food from the mouth of children, veterans and the elderly as a result of this great ugly bill to reward billionaires with huge tax exemptions and blow up the debt in the process.”
The stoppage of the work occurs after the mayor, Republican Mike Johnson, being able to gather in the early hours of Thursday (3) the minimum number of conservative votes needed to overcome a procedural phase that allowed the debate on Donald Trump’s budget law.
Johnson left the procedural vote, which determines the rules of parliamentary debate, opened for almost six hours, while Trump called the rebel republican members of Congress. Until this morning, Johnson had secured 219 votes against the 213 who opposed a final vote without making radical changes in the law, something many conservatives asked.
Trump established next Friday (4), US Independence Day, such as the deadline for receiving the budget bill and sanctioning it, but the complex text of nearly 1,000 pages has undergone several changes, the last resulting in a tight Senate approval this week after vice president JD Vance has unveiled the vote.
The mayor, Trump’s ally, called Jeffries’ speech “complete loss of time.”
“He may be trying to hit the record. I think Kevin McCarthy holds the record. It’s a complete loss of time for everyone, but, you know, it’s part of the system here,” Johnson said.
