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Leader Kevin McCarthy is Really Taking Advantage of That 'Magic Minute,' Democrats Delay Vote Until Friday

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  November 18, 2021 11:00 PM

Update

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) confirmed sometime on early Friday morning that the spending bill would not receive a vote until later on Friday. 

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), however, has remained speaking on the House floor.

Original Post

Thursday brought plenty of updates to do with the $1.75 trillion reconciliation bill, and not good ones, especially considering, as Spencer reported, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed it "would result in a net increase in the deficit totaling $367 billion over the 2022-2031 period." House Democratic leadership announced a plan to bring the bill for a vote on Thursday evening, even if it took place late into the night, with Fox News' Chad Pergram tweeting earlier that this would especially be the case "if there are delaying tactics by the GOP." And boy, does it look like there are. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has been speaking since 8:39pm on the House floor against the bill. 

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House leaders, as Pergram explained in another thread, are only supposed to go on for one minute, but they are given great deference.

Pergram also pointed out what's on a lot of people's minds: that McCarthy wants to be speaker, should Republicans indeed take control of the House in 2022, as they are expected to do.

With McCarthy speaking for so long, people have definitely been taking notice. "Kevin McCarthy" is trending on Twitter, and while there is the typical anti-Republican tirades, there's also tweets pointing out how people are noticing a change in McCarthy.

Some moments gaining particular attention have to do with the heckling from Democrats. McCarthy, in response, pointed out "it's okay, I'll be here a long time."

He was specifically heckled by Democratic congresswomen, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), for shouting "I did" when McCarthy reminded that Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), a rather vulnerable Democrat, pointed out that "nobody elected Biden to be FDR."

It's worth noting that according to a Quinnipiac poll released today, 52 percent believe the Democratic Party has moved too far to the left. 

Predictably, AOC had a tantrum and left.

Overall, it's been quite the rude atmosphere, though it's what's to be expected from Democrats. 

By the way, in 2018, then House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) used the "magic minute" to speak for eight hours. The first Google search result that comes up for "House Leader Magic Minute" is a ThinkProgress article by E.A. Crunden. What was Pelosi speaking up about? Crunden's headline of "Pelosi invokes rarely-used ‘magic minute’ to oppose budget deal, elevate Dreamers," speaks for itself. 

You can watch the live stream of McCarthy's remarks in the tweet below from his office and his staff members.