February 7, 2018

Nancy Pelosi Just Crushed It With the Longest Continuous Speech in House History

Democrats want Dreamer protections as part of the spending deal.

Tom Williams/AP

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has set a record for the longest continuous speech in House history, according to the House Historian’s Office. Pelosi took to the floor at 10:04 a.m. EST on Wednesday—after the Senate failed to include Dreamers, the undocumented immigrants protected under DACA, in their agreement to fund the government. Ending just after 6:00 p.m. EST, Pelosi spoke for eight hours and seven minutes.

Under DACA, hundreds of thousands of Dreamers were protected from deportation. After President Trump ended the program last year, Democrats pushed for the protection of Dreamers to be included in last month’s short-term spending bill. It wasn’t, so Democrats refused to support the bill, resulting in the three-day government shutdown. 

“We have to be strong as a country…to respect the aspirations of people who are our future,” Pelosi said Wednesday. “The young people are our future and these Dreamers are part of that.” (Fittingly, Pelosi’s speech comes one year after Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was formerly silenced on the Senate floor by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.)

House Democrats have largely commended the speech, sharing clips of it on Twitter with the now-trending hashtag #GoNancyGo. After Pelosi told colleagues they were free to attend a speech by former Vice President Joe Biden, they responded by saying, “We want to see you,” according to a tweet from C-SPAN.

Pelosi and other Dems have said they’ll only support the spending bill if Speaker Paul Ryan agrees to hold a vote on an immigration bill that includes the Dreamers. The short-term funding bill expires on Friday. 

4 DAYS LEFT—AND EVERYTHING RIDING ON IT

A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

With just 4 days left, we need a huge surge in reader support to get to our $400,000 year-end goal. Whether you've given before or this is your first time, your contribution right now matters. All gifts are 3X matched and tax-deductible.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

4 DAYS LEFT—AND EVERYTHING RIDING ON IT

A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

With just 4 days left, we need a huge surge in reader support to get to our $400,000 year-end goal. Whether you've given before or this is your first time, your contribution right now matters. All gifts are 3X matched and tax-deductible.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate