Cory Booker Breaks Record For Longest Senate Speech With Remarks Opposing Trump Policies

WASHINGTON ― Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) wrapped a marathon 24-hour code connected Tuesday successful protestation of President Donald Trump’s policies, breaking the grounds for the longest Senate talk-a-thon acceptable decades agone by infamous segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.

The 55-year-old New Jersey Democrat began speaking Monday evening soon aft 7 p.m., railing against the Trump administration’s efforts to demolish authorities agencies, chopped taxes for affluent Americans, and slash authorities information nett programs similar Medicaid.

“I emergence with the volition of getting successful immoderate bully trouble,” Booker said astatine the commencement of his speech, referencing the operation synonymous with the precocious civilian rights person and Georgia Congressman John Lewis. “I emergence with the volition of disrupting the mean concern of the United States Senate for arsenic agelong arsenic I americium physically able.”

He went connected to knock galore of Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s arguable moves, taking periodic breaks by yielding to questions from chap Democrats without formally relinquishing the floor. A legislator tin proceed speaking uninterrupted connected the level arsenic agelong arsenic they stay lasting and beryllium physically contiguous successful the chamber.

Booker’s code is not considered a full-blown filibuster since it didn’t stall a measure oregon a nomination. However, his alleged “talking filibuster” did hold an expected ballot connected a bipartisan solution attempting to overturn Trump’s tariffs connected Canada. That ballot is present expected to instrumentality spot connected Wednesday.

Thurmond antecedently acceptable the grounds for the longest Senate speech, astatine 24 hours and 18 minutes successful length, successful absorption to the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He was a Democrat astatine the clip but aboriginal near the enactment owed to its clasp of civilian rights.

“I’m not present due to the fact that of his speech,” Booker said of Thurmond arsenic helium was closing connected Tuesday evening. “I’m present successful spite of his speech. I’m present due to the fact that arsenic poweful arsenic helium was, the radical were much powerful.”

That it was Booker, the archetypal Black legislator to correspond New Jersey, who eclipsed Thurmond’s grounds connected Tuesday made the feat each the amended for his Democratic colleagues.

“Cory isn’t doing it to interruption a grounds but I bash cognize it would beryllium astonishing to person a racist pro-segregation code erased from the Senate grounds books,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who stayed connected the Senate level successful enactment of Booker for overmuch of the night, wrote successful a station connected societal media.

Murphy himself conducted a astir 15-hour filibuster pursuing the Orlando Pulse nightclub wide shooting successful 2016 to propulsion for a ballot connected weapon power legislation.

Booker besides leapfrogged Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) code of much than 21 hours that helium launched successful 2013 successful enactment of defunding the Affordable Care Act.

Cruz said helium followed 2 pieces of proposal for mounting a marathon code connected the Senate floor: “Number one, deterioration comfy shoes. Number two, portion precise small water.”