As Playbook PM lands in your inbox, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has broken the record set in 2021 by Kevin McCarthy for the longest House floor speech. Jeffries started speaking at 4:52 a.m. in protest of Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” and finished at 1:37 p.m., setting the new mark at eight hours and 45 minutes while flanked by cheering Democrats and a near empty Republican side of the chamber. More from POLITICO’s Nick Wu
Jeffreis was deploying his “magic minute” privilege as a House leader to filibuster President Donald Trump’s marquee megabill. Now that he’s finished, the House will proceed to the final vote on the sprawling reconciliation legislation, which is set to pass thanks to last-minute maneuvering from Speaker Mike Johnson and the White House.
What Jeffries said: In his odyssey of a speech from the House floor, Jeffries repeatedly blasted the megabill for its projected impacts and read stories of constituents across the country who he said will be devastated by the cuts to Medicaid, POLITICO’s Calen Razor wrote this morning. “I’m planning to take my sweet time,” Jeffries said as he embarked on the endeavor. Though he seemed to tease that July 4 “ain’t my deadline” for the bill, a little bit before 1 p.m. he indicated that he was approaching the “end of this particular journey.”
The thinking: Jeffries’ last stand against the bill, of course, could only delay the vote. But Jeffries’ intention was to do just that and force Republicans to vote on it during the daytime. It also offered him a chance to preview the type of messaging that Americans will hear plenty of from Democrats ahead of the midterms: “This bill represents the largest cut to health care in American history,” Jeffries said on the floor.
Jeffries gave Johnson a heads-up that this was coming, Axios’ Andrew Solender reports. But as the morning dragged on, Johnson’s patience wore thin as he called the speech “an utter waste of everyone’s time,” per WaPo’s Brianna Tucker. Also low on patience: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who told DC Examiner’s Christian Datoc that Jeffries “looks like a bumbling fool.”
It comes after a marathon House session that’s well past 24 hours, Nick notes, and it’s been more than a bit stir crazy. See Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) literally walking laps around the Capitol Rotunda to pass the time this morning … or Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) donning a pair of crocs to make it through the night.
Johnson is confident he has the votes to pass Trump’s marquee legislation this afternoon, with only one or two GOP lawmakers still on the outs, Nick and our colleague Cassandra Dumay report. “The president helped answer questions. We had Cabinet secretaries involved, and experts in all the fields, and I think they got there,” Johnson said of the nay-sayers.
After the long will-they-won’t-they — the GOP holdouts have found their way to aye with zero changes to the Senate’s version of the megabill. In fact, new amendments were never an option, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said per our colleague Meredith Lee Hill. “It became clear from the president’s meeting at the White House to further conversations later that, for all the back and forth, you know, the bill’s closed.”
The White House is already planning a signing ceremony tomorrow, though the timing isn’t set in stone, Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman reports. As of now, it’s set for 5 p.m. on July Fourth — and certain to be full of pomp and circumstance.
Despite Jeffries’ long sidebar, Trump is cashing in his wins. “What a great night it was. One of the most consequential Bills ever. The USA is the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, by far!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social at 9:41 a.m.
The other hot news this morning was the June jobs report showing better than expected numbers, with 147,000 new jobs added, WSJ’s Konrad Putzier and Justin Lahart report. The unemployment rate also fell from 4.2 percent to 4.1 percent. Unsurprisingly, Wall Street’s happy: the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq opened at record highs this morning.
It all amounts to a boon of a day for the president, and Trump world is already celebrating. “The universe is healing,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said on X, touting a drop in immigrant employment. Scalise, meanwhile, claimed that the job numbers are part of a growing optimism from the megabill, and that businesses are “factoring that into their decision making,” he told Bloomberg’s Erik Wasson.
This afternoon, Trump heads to Iowa for a big pre-July Fourth celebration at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, where he’ll launch an even bigger celebration — a yearlong festival called the “the Great American State Fair” to mark America’s 250th anniversary and culminate on July 4, 2026, WaPo’s Cat Zakrzewski and colleagues write.
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1. RUSSIA-UKRAINE LATEST: Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin at 10 a.m. this morning. Neither the White House nor the Kremlin have shared details of the conversation yet. Trump is poised to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tomorrow, per FT’s Christopher Miller, to discuss the halting of crucial air defense shipments to Ukraine. Zelenskyy met with his defense and foreign ministers yesterday on Ukraine’s relationship with the U.S. and said that “one way or another, we must ensure protection for our people.”
From Russia, with love: Eleven jailed Russian prisoners of war wrote to world leaders calling for a mass release of the political prisoners and Ukranian hostages held in Russia as part of a potential peace deal, Reuters’ Mark Trevelyan scooped. “There are at least 10,000 of us — Russian political prisoners and Ukrainian civilian hostages. We are all punished for one thing — for taking a civic stance,” they wrote.
2. THE BORDER LINE: “Israel and Syria in U.S.-Brokered Talks to End Border Conflict, Trump Envoy Says,” by NYT’s Ben Hubbard: “Syria and Israel are engaged in ‘meaningful’ talks through the United States that aim to restore calm along their border, according to Thomas J. Barrack Jr., one of President Trump’s key envoys to the Middle East. … [Barrack] said in an interview with The New York Times that the administration wanted Syria to join the Abraham Accords … Progress on democratization and inclusive government will not happen quickly, Mr. Barrack said, and are not part of the U.S. criteria.”
3. SCOTUS WATCH: The Supreme Court announced this morning that it will hear two cases in the upcoming term dealing with transgender athletes, including whether states can ban trans athletes from women’s teams on the basis of their assigned sex. “The decision puts the issue of transgender rights on the Supreme Court’s docket for the second year in a row and is by far the most significant matter the justices have agreed to hear in the term that will begin in October,” CNN’s John Fritze and Devan Cole report. The high court denied hearing a case on a Montana law requiring parental consent for abortions for people under 18.
4. ONE WEEK TO GO: With just days before Trump’s tariff deadline on July 9, the heat is on for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other crucial negotiators tasked with delivering deals, Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey and Nancy Cook report. Only three agreements have been signed so far. And there’s still uncertainty swirling about the risks of Vietnam’s deal, which some analysts say could negatively hit the Southeast Asian country’s economy, per WSJ’s Kimberley Kao and Fabiana Negrin Ochoa.
The stinging point: 40 percent tariffs on transshipping, aka goods flowing through Vietnam from other countries. Particularly upset is China, who early this morning threatened to “firmly strike back” if the deal with Vietnam ends up costing them, according to Ministry of Commerce spokesperson He Yongqian. More on the ramifications of the Vietnam deal from NYT’s Alexandra Stevenson
White House messaging push: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued more warnings to U.S. trade partners on Fox News this morning, saying that after the deadline tariffs “could cantilever back up to the April 2 reciprocal tariff rate.” But more deals are in the works and Bessent said to expect them in the coming days. When asked about discussions for him to fill in as Fed chair after Jerome Powell’s term is up, Bessent dodged the question: “I’m not going to reveal private conversations.”
Clicker: “How Trump’s China Tariffs Are Jeopardizing America’s Fireworks Extravaganzas,” by NYT’s Alan Rappeport
5. IMMIGRATION FILES: “Trump administration quietly tries to find a solution for migrant workers amid industry concerns,” by CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez and Phil Mattingly: “Senior administration officials have had discussions with stakeholders as they quietly try to find a durable compromise on the fate of migrant workers, floating various new ways of granting them legal status … But it’s unclear what, if any, solution they can reach without Congress … The source said Trump has also raised the idea to [Agriculture Secretary Brooke] Rollins of creating a mechanism that would allow farmers to sign a document or affidavit for undocumented workers, who would self-deport and then be allowed to return legally.”
6. MISSING IN ACTION?: The cuts to Medicaid in Trump’s behemoth bill are missing one key wall of resistance that Trump faced back in 2017: GOP governors, KFF Health News’ Phil Galewitz reports. Most are coming out in favor of the work requirements that will become law with the new legislation. “In a sign of how the political winds have changed, none of the governors said anything about the legislation’s crackdown on another significant cut, to provider taxes — a tool that nearly all of their states use to help pay their share of Medicaid and gain additional funds from the federal government.”
7. A NEW YORK MINUTE: Billionaire tech mogul Bill Ackman is calling for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to back out of the NYC mayoral race, throwing his support behind Mayor Eric Adams’ reelection bid after speaking with both candidates yesterday, Bloomberg’s Nacha Cattan and colleagues report. Ackman — who is adamantly against Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani and unsuccessfully tried to get another name on the ballot — said Cuomo is “not up for the fight” in a post — nay, essay — on X.
Mamdani mania: While Trump continues to hurl loosely veiled threats at Mamdani, progressives on the West Coast are green with envy as San Francisco moves away from its once singular progressivism, POLITICO’s Dustin Gardiner writes. The city’s “political evolution has coincided with the rise of tech and artificial intelligence. As the industry brought new jobs over the past two decades, the city’s population became wealthier and older.”
The next test for Dems: The appetite for change is also growing in Arizona, where Adelita Grijalva is trying to rally voters ahead of a July 15 Democratic primary to replace her late father, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) — but NYT’s Jack Healy reports that some voters are “tired of voting for Grijalvas.”
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Melania Trump is meeting with sick children at Children’s National hospital in D.C. today as they make July Fourth themed arts and crafts.
ON THE PAYROLL — The White House released its annual salaries report today. The highest paid staffer is Jacalynne Klopp, who earns $225,700 as a senior adviser. Karoline Leavitt, Tom Homan, Susie Wiles, Peter Navarro and Stephen Miller, among others, all make $195,200.
NEWS YOU CAN USE — “Where to Watch the Fireworks In and Around D.C.” by The Georgetowner’s Grace Cady: “Whether you are going it alone, looking for an adventure, making plans with friends and family or in the mood for dinner and a show, we have a lineup of all the best fireworks viewing options in the city.”
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