House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries delivers awesome speech challenging Republicans to govern

On Wednesday, after three weeks and one day of chaos and infighting, Republicans finally elected a new speaker of the House in Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. As is custom, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries gave the speech introducing the new speaker—and really blew the lid off the place (or at least the side of the House chamber that works for the majority of Americans).

When Jeffries took to the podium, fellow Democrats cheered and shouted things like “That’s what a speaker looks like.” Jeffries touched on topics including the positive legislation passed by Democrats in the House in service of everyday Americans, the need to support our allies abroad, and the adversity we face at home with a political party in disarray, more interested in authoritarian rule than democracy.

We faced adversity right here in the House of Representatives when on January 6, 2021, a violent mob of insurrectionists incited by some in this chamber overran the House floor. As part of an effort to halt the peaceful transfer of power.

The 13-minute speech was broken up by numerous standing ovations from the left side of the chamber. Enjoy the video, and read the transcript below the fold.

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