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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called it “one of the worst, lowest-quality speeches I have ever had the absolute atrocious lack of privilege to witness.”
In total, McCarthy spoke for just over eight and a half hours until after 5 a.m., breaking the record for longest House floor speech. But it wasn’t enough to stop the bill: The House reconvened a few hours later and passed Democrats’ $1.75 trillion climate, social, and tax policy reconciliation bill thats been the centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.
House Democrats were racing to pass the bill Thursday night shortly after the Congressional Budget Office released figures showing that, with the inclusion of enhanced Internal Revenue Service tax measures in the bill, it would reduce the deficit over ten years—a central demand of conservative House Democrats who cut a deal with House leadership to ensure the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
But while the House has no equivalent of the Senate filibuster, which can and does stop legislation from passing, McCarthy used his privilege as the top Republican in the House to speak for an unlimited amount of time. Ironically, the previous record for longest floor speech was set by his counterpart—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who as House minority leader gave an eight-hour-plus speech in support of DACA recipients.
The bill as passed by the House includes four weeks of paid family leave, funding for universal pre-kindergarten, more than $500 billion in climate funding, the ability for Medicare to negotiate the prices of some expensive prescription drugs, and increased Internal Revenue Service enforcement, which the CBO said Thursday would raise more than $200 billion and, over time, reduce the deficit by more than $127 billion through 2031.
McCarthy spent part of his speech on the Build Back Better bill that Congress is debating, at one point saying the bill costs more than it did to win World War II. But he also used the time to lay out a smorgasbord of short- and long-term Republican grievances.
“You're celebrating it when inflation is at a 31 percent high!” McCarthy said at one point. “Gas prices! Thanksgiving! A border that in a few months breaks every record of the last three years combined.”
At another point, McCarthy told a bizarre story about his “friend in the Senate” who was told by a Chinese general that America was “weak because you believe in God and you take fentanyl.”
House Democrats spent much of McCarthy’s speech-time mocking and ridiculing him. When McCarthy quoted a Democratic moderate who said earlier this month that “nobody elected [Biden] to be FDR,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shouted: “I did!” Another Democrat added, “Me too!”
Rep. Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat, kept a running tally on Twitter whenever McCarthy’s speech eclipsed an album’s running time or length of a movie. The first entry was the Beatles’ “Help!”, and by the time McCarthy was finished, he had spoken longer than the entirety of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
“Kevin McCarthy promised he would give us all his wisdom about government,” Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin tweeted late Thursday. “At 11:30 pm, I don’t know how much wiser we are but we are definitely older.”
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a video from the House cloakroom calling it “one of the worst, lowest quality speeches I have ever had the absolute atrocious lack of privilege to witness.”
McCarthy finally finished his speech shortly after 5 a.m. When the House reconvened the next morning—three hours later—Pelosi referenced his hours-long tirade. “With respect for those who work in this Capitol and as a courtesy to my colleagues, I will be brief,” the House speaker said with a laugh.
The bill passed on a nearly party-line vote, with just one Democrat—Rep. Jared Golden of Maine—voting no because, as he said on Twitter, the bill doesn’t go far enough in taxing the wealthy.
After the bill attained the requisite number of votes after 9:30 a.m., House Democrats erupted in cheers. But while the House may have finally voted to pass the bill, it’s possible we’re nowhere near the finish line.
The bill now heads to the Senate, where the Democrats have the narrowest of margins to pass it—and conservative Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who spearheaded the bipartisan infrastructure bill, have not said whether they’ll vote for passage. Manchin has already said he opposes the inclusion of paid family leave in the bill.
Kyle Rittenhouse during his trial. (photo: Sean Krajacic/AP)
The jury ruled that Rittenhouse, who brought a military-style weapon to a protest and shot three people, killing two of them, was acting in self-defense
Rittenhouse, 18, had been charged with five counts including reckless homicide, intentional homicide, and attempted intentional homicide. He was found not guilty of all five of them. The charges stemmed from when as a 17-year-old in August 2020, Rittenhouse brought an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle to a protest in Kenosha, where he shot and killed two men, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and wounded another, Gaige Grosskreutz. Rittenhouse pleaded not guilty to all charges in January.
During a trial that often played out on live television, the prosecution sought to characterize Rittenhouse as a rogue vigilante who wanted to get revenge against people protesting the police, while the defense claimed he only wanted to protect a local business and was forced to fire his weapon in self-defense. The 12-person jury — which Rittenhouse helped select by randomly pulling names out of a tumbler — deliberated for over three days before announcing their decision on Friday. Rittenhouse broke down in tears as the jury read the “not guilty” verdicts.
The shootings took place amid unrest during a protest demanding justice and accountability for the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black father of six, in Kenosha. In response to news of the Blake shooting, which occurred amid broad demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd months earlier, professional athletes across multiple leagues refused to play as a protest against police brutality and systemic racism. Locally, protests in Kenosha resulted in burned buildings and cars, as police deployed tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd.
On the second night of protests, Rittenhouse drove to downtown Kenosha from his home in Illinois, armed with an AR-15-style rifle that a friend purchased for him. Video taken prior to the shooting that night shows Rittenhouse telling the camera he is in Kenosha to “protect” a car dealership from protesters and “to help people.” Later, footage shows him identifying himself as an EMT offering medical help to protesters, although he admitted in his testimony that he was not actually a certified EMT. “He’s like a quack doctor. Practicing without a license,” Kenosha County prosecutor Thomas Binger said during closing arguments on Monday.
According to court documents and video footage, at one point during the unrest Rosenbaum began to chase Rittenhouse. Rosenbaum tried to engage Rittenhouse, leading Rittenhouse to shoot him four times, killing him. Others then pursued Rittenhouse, who tripped and fell. While Rittenhouse was on the ground, Huber struck him with a skateboard and tried to grab Rittenhouse’s rifle, leading Rittenhouse to shoot him once in the chest, killing him. Rittenhouse also shot the arm of 26-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz after Grosskreutz — who had been filming the unrest — approached him with a pistol drawn.
Rittenhouse took the stand last Wednesday to defend his actions. During testimony that was tearful at times, he said he brought the gun to “protect myself” at the protest and claimed he acted in self defense when he shot the men. Rosenbaum, he said, “ambushed” him in a parking lot and grabbed his weapon, although Rittenhouse admitted that Rosenbaum never touched his body. “If [Rosenbaum] would have taken my gun, he would’ve used it against me” and “killed me,” Rittenhouse claimed.
Rittenhouse recounted Huber hitting him with a skateboard and grabbing his weapon, and said he shot Grosskreutz because Grosskreutz had pointed the gun “directly” at his head. “I used deadly force,” Rittenhouse said of the shootings, adding, “I didn’t know if it was going to kill them. But I used deadly force to stop the threat that was attacking me.”
Grosskreutz, a volunteer paramedic, testified at the trial last week. “I thought that the defendant was an active shooter,” Grosskreutz said when explaining why he approached Rittenhouse with his weapon drawn.
After the shootings, Rittenhouse said he ran in the direction of police with his arms raised “because I didn’t do anything wrong.” The police drove past him in order to help the shooting victims.
In closing arguments, the prosecution painted Rittenhouse as a vigilante “wannabe soldier” who had “no remorse” for his actions. “So consider, for example, whether or not it’s heroic or honorable to provoke and shoot unarmed people,” Binger told the jury. “They enjoy the thrill of going around and telling people what to do, without the courage or the honor to back it up and without the legal authority to do so.”
Rittenhouse’s attorney, Mark Richards, portrayed the people Rittenhouse shot as the aggressors in his closing arguments. Richards accused the prosecution of “lying” and “misrepresenting” when it said that the teen started the violence.
“Kyle shot Joseph Rosenbaum in order to stop a threat to his person, and I’m glad he shot him because if Joseph Rosenbaum had got that gun, I don’t for a minute believe he wouldn’t have used it against somebody else,” Richards said. “He was irrational and crazy. … My client didn’t shoot at anyone until he was chased and cornered.”
Judge Bruce Schroeder, who presided over the trial, made a string of decisions that critics say abetted the defense. Judge Schroeder barred prosecutors from referring to the people Rittenhouse shot as “victims” or “alleged victims” when establishing the rules for the trial. Instead, he said they could be called “rioters,” “looters,” or “arsonists,” if the defense has evidence to prove those terms accurate. On Thursday, while the jury was present, Schroeder encouraged everyone in the courtroom to give a round of applause to a defense witness on Veterans Day because he had served in the Army. According to Associated Press reporter Michael Tarm, jurors joined in the clapping.
During the trial, prosecutors asked the judge to instruct the jury when they start their deliberations to consider lesser charges against Rittenhouse in the shootings of Huber and Grosskreutz. Lesser charges would lower the burden of proof needed for the jury to convict. On Monday, before closing arguments began, Schroeder dismissed a charge of illegal gun possession by a minor against Rittenhouse, citing a loophole in a part of the law that only applies to people under the age of 16. Rittenhouse was 17 at the time of the shooting.
Some have argued that the prosecution has made mistakes with the trial. At points, watchers speculated the defense might succeed in getting the judge to declare a mistrial “with prejudice,” which would effectively rule out any possibility of a future homicide conviction for Rittenhouse. Daniel Adams, a former Milwaukee County assistant district attorney who is not involved in the trial, told PBS Newshour that he found the prosecution’s case “incredibly underwhelming.”
“He’s got nothing,” Adams said. “I just don’t understand it. What are we doing here? We’re all kind of scratching our heads.”
As the attorneys made their final arguments, the state of Wisconsin prepared in advance for the reaction to the verdict. Gov. Tony Evers put approximately 500 members of Wisconsin’s National Guard on active duty so they could assist local law enforcement if needed.
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