House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had hoped to finally clear late on Thursday a bill that had caused fierce battles between progressives and moderates in her caucus. But House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had other ideas.
In a histrionic coda to the bill’s tumultuous stay in the House, the Californian Republican held court for hours — seeking to push the vote late into the night with a meandering and repetitive filibuster-style speech. He touched on immigration, Afghanistan, his own life story and repeatedly hit Biden for high gas prices and inflation, and mixed in personal attacks on Pelosi…