Former President Obama is trying to remain relevant as he urged Americans to call their representatives and demand that they vote against President Donald Trump’s megabill as the House nears voting on the bill.
“More than 16 million Americans are at risk of losing their health care because Republicans in Congress are rushing to pass a bill that would cut federal funding for Medicaid and weaken the Affordable Care Act. If the House passes this bill, it will increase costs and hurt working class families for generations to come. Call your representative today and tell them to vote no on this bill,” Obama wrote on X.
The top Democrat in the House of Representatives has temporarily halted the progress on President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., began speaking in the chamber minutes before 5 a.m. and appears to be poised for hours more on Thursday
One GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital that Jeffries was seen arriving with multiple binders, one of which he read from for roughly three hours. If the rest of the binders also hold portions of his speech, the New York Democrat could keep the House floor paused into the afternoon.
He is able to command the House floor via a “magic minute,” a privilege granted to party leaders in the chamber that allows them to speak for an unlimited amount of time.
It comes after the House of Representatives voted to advance Trump’s $3.3 trillion “big, beautiful bill” to its final phase in Congress, overcoming fears of a potential Republican mutiny.
It’s a significant victory for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., though the fight is not over yet.
Lawmakers voted to proceed with debate on the mammoth-sized Trump agenda bill in the early hours of Thursday – a mechanism known as a “rule vote” – teeing up a final House-wide vote sometime later Thursday morning.
The House adopted the rules for debate on the measure in a dramatic 219 to 213 vote, with all but moderate Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., voting to proceed.
Next comes a vote on the actual measure, likely sometime on Thursday. But the timing is largely contingent on when Jeffries finishes speaking.
Republicans are passing the bill through a process known as budget reconciliation, which typically enables the ruling party to totally ignore the minority.
Delay tactics are currently Jeffries’ and his caucus’ sole concrete tools of opposition because they lack the actual authority to halt the bill’s advancement.
Five House Republicans were ready to sabotage the plan before members could even consider the bill itself, causing the vote to delay for hours since Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, a number of hardline House Freedom Caucus members and supporters seemed prepared to abstain from the vote entirely in opposition to the compromise package proposed by GOP leaders.
However, Trump and Johnson both reportedly had some success in their hours-long negotiations with holdouts.
Hours could still pass during the procedure, though. When the legislation first passed the House by a single vote in late May, Democrats were able to use a variety of procedural votes to postpone the final measure.
Late Tuesday morning, the Senate enacted its version of the package, which raised the debt ceiling and changed the House’s provisions on Medicaid cost-sharing with states and certain tax initiatives.
However, Trump urged House Republicans to follow suit on Truth Social after the Senate passed the law.
“It is no longer a ‘House Bill’ or a ‘Senate Bill’. It is everyone’s Bill. There is so much to be proud of, and EVERYONE got a major Policy WIN — But, the Biggest Winner of them all will be the American People, who will have Permanently Lower Taxes, Higher Wages and Take Home Pay, Secure Borders, and a Stronger and More Powerful Military,” the president posted.
“We can have all of this right now, but only if the House GOP UNITES, ignores its occasional ‘GRANDSTANDERS (You know who you are!), and does the right thing, which is sending this Bill to my desk. We are on schedule — Let’s keep it going, and be done before you and your family go on a July 4thvacation. The American People need and deserve it. They sent us here to, GET IT DONE.”