New York braces for Big Beautiful Bill bugaboo

Will the state Legislature return to Albany for a special session?

Good afternoon — it’s Thursday and Eat Your Beans Day.

In today’s CapCon:

• The “Big Beautiful Bill” passed the House Thursday after a marathon speech of more than eight hours from Brooklyn Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.

• It’s expected to be signed by President Donald J. Trump Friday. We don’t know how New York plans to respond, if at all.

• One thing some lawmakers didn’t see coming was the bill’s anticipated cuts for supportive housing opportunities for veterans.

• Bills Hochul will consider would regulate consumer litigation funding, waive certain tickets for trash violations and help more folks with food allergies.

Names in today’s CapCon: Kathy Hochul, Hakeem Jeffries, Kevin McCarthy, Donald Trump, Nick Langworthy, Pascal Leone, Jeremy Cooney, Bill Magnarelli, Jen Lunsford, Pete Harckham, Sam Sutton, Simcha Eichenstein

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries during his marathon of floor remarks Thursday. (Rod Lamkey/Associated Press)

🗣️ Hakeem Jeffries stalls ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ as Democrats brace for impact

Any news made in New York Thursday was overshadowed by the U.S. House, which passed President Donald J. Trump’s massive spending bill in preparation for his on signature Friday.

That was expected. What wasn’t expected was the floor speech of more than eight hours from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — a Democrat from Brooklyn.

Jeffries apparently broke the record for the longest floor speech in modern history, according to the Associated Press. He spoke for about 10 minutes longer than former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy did in protest to the 2021 spending bill approved by Democrats.

I did not know before today that, because Jeffries is the minority leader, he’s allowed to speak on the floor as long as he wants. And he did, with members telling him to take his “sweet time” when he appeared exhausted.

The floor speech did not make a difference in the final tally; votes had already been decided overnight, including from the seven Republican members of Congress from New York who supported it.

Democrats from New York voted against it and had begun to release statements in opposition to the bill.

I won’t waste your time with a bunch of statements from federal lawmakers. It boils down to this: Republicans from New York like it, Democrats from New York hate it and it’s sure to be a top talking point in next year’s elections. The end.

With Trump expected to sign it on Friday, the country’s 249th birthday, New York will have to decide what, if anything, it will do in response.