What is ‘magic minute'? Know as Democrat Jeffries makes last attempt to hang up Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' - EXPLAINED
&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "What is ‘magic minute'? Know as Democrat Jeffries makes last attempt to hang up Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' - EXPLAINED")
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries Photograph: (Reuters)
If Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries wants to break the record created by former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, he needs to speak beyond 1:26 pm ET.
As Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the New York Democrat and minority leader crossed eight hours of a marathon speech on Thursday (July 3), he invoked a rarely used House procedure, known as "magic minute". Jeffries spoke for so long to protest against President Donald Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" and delay the House voting.
He even began his speech by saying that he was "planning to take my sweet time” with his speech. Allotted 60 seconds, Jeffries was making use of his prerogative as a leader to stretch his allotted time, and took far longer than that, in a house tradition "magic minute".
The democratic leader started his speech at 4: 53 am ET and is still on with his speech, making it one of the longest in recent history. However, not much people are currently present in the chamber now, hence Jeffries is mostly addressing the empty chamber, but is still being cheered by the Democrats.
What is 'magic minute'?
The "magic minute", an informal House rule and a tradition that allows House leaders to speak for as long as they want after a floor debate concludes. This permits the House leader to turn their seconds of speech into a longer period of time.
However, it still remains unclear for how long Jeffries is planning to speak. If he wants to break the record created by former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, he needs to speak beyond 1:26 pm ET.
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In 2021, Kevin, then House Republican leader, spoke for a record-setting eight hours and 32 minutes as he was protesting Joe Biden's signature domestic policy legislation. However, it still passed when he ceded the floor.
Trump has earlier said that he wants to sign the bill by July 4. However, Jeffries has no chance of stopping the bill even if he delays the voting.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson was likely to address the chamber once Jeffries' speech ends. However, Johnson also has unlimited time, but earlier, he told reporters that he expected his speech would be shorter than Jeffries.