Paul Ryan’s Own Staff Applauds Nancy Pelosi After Record-Breaking House Speech

Even one of GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan’s own staff members applauded Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s record-breaking speech on the House floor on Wednesday.

In a tweet, one of Ryan’s top staffers, Brendan Buck, tweeted that Pelosi deserves “legit props for the endurance” she showed during her marathon speech.

The tweet from Buck – one of Ryan’s closest aides – came after Pelosi wrapped up her speech on protecting DACA recipients, which clocked in at over eight hours long.

As The Hill pointed out on Wednesday, “[T]hree members of House leadership including the Minority Leader have rights to unlimited speaking time on the floor,” despite the chamber’s “tightly controlled” nature. Pelosi took advantage of her platform and used it to shatter the previous record, which was over five hours long and set by former House Speaker Champ Clark in 1909.

As Jason Easley noted shortly after the Democratic leader concluded her remarks, “Pelosi spent more time today arguing for Dreamers on the House floor than Donald Trump spends during an entire day on his duties as president.”

“While Donald Trump is propped up in bed and watching Fox News, Nancy Pelosi is fighting for Dreamers,” he added.

There’s no doubt that Pelosi is a progressive figure that Republicans – and even some Democrats – like to use as a political punching bag. Just this week, Trump himself used a speech in Ohio to wage repeated attacks on Pelosi as the midterm campaign starts to get underway.

But on Wednesday, Pelosi showed the country and her colleagues what real leadership looks like by standing strong in defense of Dreamers, who have been used by GOP lawmakers as a political prop.

In one speech, she did more work than Trump has done all week, and Republicans could do nothing but tip their caps.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.