Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) launched a marathon speech on the floor of the Senate Monday evening to criticize President Donald Trump, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and the current state of affairs under the Trump administration.
Booker vowed to hold control of the floor, halting all other legislative business, for as long as he was “physically able” to do so. He began around 7 p.m. Monday. More than 16 hours later, Booker was still speaking as of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, taking only brief breaks to allow Democratic colleagues to speak in his place.
“Tonight, I rise with the intention of getting in some good trouble,” Booker said at the beginning of his speech. “I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able.”
The New Jersey Democrat was not protesting any single proposed bill and was therefore not a filibuster, despite temporarily preventing the Republican majority from voting on other measures and nominees. Rather, Booker stated he was motivated by a “complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution, and the needs of the American people” by Trump and Musk, the world’s richest man and close Trump confidant who manages the administration’s spending cuts and layoffs through the Department of Government Efficiency.
The episode came as a leaderless Democratic Party tests different tactics to combat the Trump administration. Its latest action came Monday, when the Democratic National Committee, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) mounted a lawsuit against Trump’s executive order overhauling federal elections.
Watch Booker’s speech live here
Booker said the country was at a tipping point because of the Trump administration, constituting an emergency and the basis for his lengthy speech.
“I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis,” he said.
“In just 71 days, the president of the United States has inflicted so much harm on Americans’ safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy,” Booker said. “These are not normal times in America. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate.”
Booker discussed various topics, including immigration, healthcare, and DOGE, among others. He also shared stories during his talk that he said were from voters across the country who expressed worry and concern regarding Trump’s actions.
Other Democratic senators, including Schumer, Andy Kim (D-NJ), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), offered Booker brief reprieve by making remarks of their own throughout the marathon session.
“Your ability to see that we are facing a series of threats that are not normal — a series of threats to families, to children, to individuals, threats to our democracy, threats to our rule of law — I think it’s really important,” Murphy said. “And you have endeavored to do something extraordinary here, to stand on your feet for as long as you can to convey both to our colleagues and to the public that, because these are not normal times, what is required of us is something different than a normal response.”
TRACKING WHAT DOGE IS DOING ACROSS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Schumer praised Booker for his “strength and conviction.”
“You’re taking the floor tonight to bring up all these inequities that will hurt people, that will so hurt the middle class, that will so hurt poor people, that will hurt America, hurt our fiscal conditions,” Schumer said. “Just give us a little inkling of the strength, give us a little feeling for the strength and conviction that drive you to do this unusual taking of the floor for a long time to let the people know how bad these things are going to be.”
