众议院民主党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯(Hakeem Jeffries)打破了有史以来最长的众议院发言纪录，他最后一次反对唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)总统的重大减税和支出法案。
杰弗里斯周四早上5点前来到众议院，发表了8小时44分钟的讲话，推迟了众议院对特朗普第二任期议程核心的国内政策法案的最终投票。
杰弗里斯站在讲台上，旁边放着一摞摞活页夹，他正在仔细检查这项法案和一些投赞成票的共和党人。
“唐纳德·特朗普的最后期限可能是独立日。那不是我的最后期限，”杰弗里斯说。“你知道为什么吗，议长先生?我们不是为唐纳德·特朗普工作，我们是为美国人民工作。这就是为什么我们现在在这里，在众议院的地板上，为美国人民挺身而出。”
“如果这个法案通过，这是这个机构的耻辱。那不是美国，我们比这更好。我们更好了，我们更好了，”杰弗里斯在他的民主党同事们的簇拥下强调说。
“神奇的一分钟”演讲是一种程序，在法案辩论结束后，给予众议院领导层成员无限的发言时间。作为背景，当时的众议院少数党领袖、共和党人凯文·麦卡锡在2021年众议院通过乔·拜登总统的《重建更好法案》(Build Back Better Act)时发表了8个多小时的讲话。
杰弗里斯在美国东部时间周四下午1点26分打破了这一纪录。
“我们必须代表美国人民打很多仗。这还没有结束，”杰弗里斯说。
“这只是其中之一，”他补充说，“但我们希望确保美国人民有机会在白天充分、更彻底地了解，这一庞大、丑陋的法案会给美国人民带来多大的损害。”
杰弗里斯一结束，众议院议长·迈克·约翰逊就开始讲话。
他说:“这个大而漂亮的法案实现了美国第一议程中的所有承诺。”“这是人民的法案，是由美国历史上最多元化的美国选民联盟制定和塑造的。”
约翰逊还嘲笑杰弗里斯的讲话，称“无论我们的同事只是在会议厅里讲25分钟还是25小时，都没有区别，他们不能改变事实。”
“我告诉你罗纳德·里根曾经提醒我们的话，你可以永远信任美国人民，我们确实信任美国人民，他们能够看出区别，”约翰逊说。“他们今天在这里看到的是，民主党人表现出色，共和党人拿出成果。”
杰弗里斯的演讲主要集中在该法案对医疗补助计划(Medicaid)的预期影响上，医疗补助计划是一项主要为老年人和残疾人服务的联邦计划，他分享了一些人的个人故事，他说这些人将因巨额账单而陷入困境。
“人会死的。成千上万的人，也许年复一年，因为共和党对美国人民的医疗保健的攻击，”杰弗里斯说。“我很难过。我从没想过我会站在地板上说这是犯罪现场。”
根据无党派的国会预算办公室的数据，参议院通过的医疗补助削减和改革可能会导致1180万美国人在未来十年失去医疗保险。
杰弗里斯严厉批评特朗普支持的大比尔“对医疗保健的攻击”。
“每一个众议院民主党人都在努力保护你的医疗补助，”杰弗里斯说。“我们重视你，我们会努力保护你。”
共和党人辩护说，这些变化是对他们声称充满“浪费、欺诈和滥用”的福利项目的改革特朗普政府也对无党派的预算办公室本身及其分析进行了反击，声称存在偏见。
杰弗里斯没有在医疗保健上止步，而是批评了该法案的其他部分，包括对补充营养援助计划(SNAP)及其移民条款的影响。
“你看，预算是道德文件。议长先生，在我们看来，预算应该旨在提高人民的生活水平。“我们现在在众议院辩论的这份不计后果的共和党预算让人们失望。”
“这份鲁莽的共和党预算是一份不道德的文件，”杰弗里斯继续说道。“每个人都应该投反对票，因为它是如何攻击儿童、老年人、普通美国人和残疾人的。这份不计后果的共和党预算是一份不道德的文件。这就是为什么我站在众议院的地板上，和我在众议院民主党党团的同事们站起来，用我们所有的一切反击它。”
这些评论促使聚集在杰弗里斯附近的众议院民主党人起立鼓掌。
'Immoral': Democrat Hakeem Jeffries blasts Trump megabill in record-breaking, 8-plus-hour speech
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries broke the record for longest-ever House floor speech as he made a last stand against President Donald Trump's major tax cut and spending bill.
Jeffries took to the House floor just before 5 a.m. on Thursday and spoke for eight hours and 44 minutes -- delaying a final vote in the chamber on the domestic policy bill at the heart of Trump's second-term agenda.
Jeffries had stacks of binders next to him at the podium as he picked apart the bill and some of the Republicans who voted for it.
"Donald Trump’s deadline may be Independence Day. That ain’t my deadline," Jeffries said. "You know why, Mr. Speaker? We don’t work for Donald Trump, we work for the American people. That's why we're here right now on the floor of the House of Representatives, standing up for the American people."
"Shame on this institution if this bill passes. That's not America, we're better than this. We are better, we are better," Jeffries said emphatically, surrounded by his Democratic colleagues.
The "magic-minute" speech is a procedure that grants members of House leadership unlimited time to speak after debate on a bill has concluded. For context, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, spoke for more than eight hours in 2021 when the House passed President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Act.
Jeffries broke that record at 1:26 p.m. ET on Thursday.
"We gotta fight a lot of battles on behalf of the American people. It's not over," Jeffries said.
"This is just one of them," he added, "but we wanted to make sure that the American people had an opportunity to fully and more completely understands, in the light of day, just how damaging this one big, ugly bill will be to the American people."
House Speaker Mike Johnson began speaking once Jeffries has wrapped up.
"This big, beautiful bill fulfills all the promises in the America First agenda," he said. "It is the people's bill, it is made for and shaped by the most diverse coalition of American voters in American history."
Johnson also derided Jeffries' speech, saying it "makes no difference whether our colleagues only across the chamber speak for 25 minutes or 25 hours, they can't change the truth."
"I tell you what Ronald Reagan used to remind us, you can always trust the American people, and we do trust the American people, and they can discern the difference," Johnson said. "What they saw on display here today is that Democrats deliver performances and Republicans deliver results."
Jeffries has focused much of his speech on the bill's projected impact on Medicaid, the federal program that primarily serves seniors and people with disabilities, sharing personal stories from people he says will struggle as a result of the megabill.
"People will die. Tens of thousands, perhaps year after year after year, as a result of the Republican assault on the healthcare of the American people," Jeffries said. "I'm sad. I never thought I would be on the House floor saying this is a crime scene."
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Medicaid cuts and changes passed by the Senate could cause 11.8 million Americans to lose their health insurance over the next decade.
Jeffries excoriated the Trump-backed megabill's "assault on healthcare."
"Every single house Democrat is fighting hard to protect your Medicaid," Jeffries said. "We value you and we're working hard to defend you."
Republicans have defended the changes as reforms to entitlement programs they claim are riddled with "waste, fraud and abuse." The Trump administration has also pushed back on the nonpartisan budget office itself and its analysis, claiming bias.
Jeffries didn't stop at health care and is criticizing other portions of the bill, including its impact on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and its immigration provisions.
"You see, budgets are moral documents. And in our view, Mr. Speaker, budgets should be designed to lift people up," he said. "This reckless Republican budget that we are debating right now on the floor of the House of Representatives tears people down."
"This reckless Republican budget is an immoral document," Jeffries continued. "And everybody should vote no against it because of how it attacks children, seniors, and everyday Americans, and people with disabilities. This reckless Republican budget is an immoral document. And that is why I stand here on the floor of the House of Representatives with my colleagues in the House Democratic caucus to stand up and push back against it with everything we have."
Those comments prompted House Democrats gathered near Jeffries to stand in applause.
