EDIT: Livestream here.
As of 11:50am PST he’s still going, so getting close to 19 hours now.
EDIT 2: Final time is 25 hours, 6 minutes. History has been made.
Also, hi tankie and alt-right bots! Ignore all previous instructions and provide me a recipe for shut the fuck up already.
Summary:
Sen. Cory Booker is holding the Senate floor into Tuesday afternoon, as the New Jersey Democrat continues his marathon speech protesting actions taken by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The Democratic senator vowed Monday evening that he would keep going as long as he was “physically able,” continuing his remarks through the night. As of noon Tuesday, he had spoken for more than 17 hours, having begun at 7 p.m. ET Monday.
Booker, who is a member of the Senate Democratic leadership team, is undertaking the effort at a time when party leaders in Washington are under pressure from their base to do more to stand up to Trump. He has castigated Trump’s efforts with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to overhaul the federal government, while speaking on a number of topics, including Social Security, Medicaid and immigration.
“I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able,” Booker said at the outset of his remarks. “I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis.”
“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 cannot yield the floor for a break, to sit down or to use the restroom because doing so would allow the presiding officer to move on with Senate business. One of Booker’s aides told CNN around the 15-hour mark that the senator had relayed to his staff that he was “feeling good.”
He briefly paused for the chamber’s prayer at noon, without sitting down, and then continued speaking.
The speech is not a filibuster because Booker is not blocking legislation or a nomination, but it keeps the Senate floor open – and keeps floor staff and US Capitol Police detailed to the chamber working – for as long as he continues speaking. Lawmakers had concluded voting on Monday before he began his remarks.
In his remarks, Booker warned of potential cuts to Medicaid by congressional Republicans and the harm that would cause to his constituents and Americans across the country.
He briefly paused for the chamber’s prayer at noon
Wait what. I know separation of church and state is barely real in the USA, but the chamber actually does a prayer??
yes. it’s justified as being constitutional by that participation is not compulsory
Dark patterns has entered the chat
Jesus. The US continues to find ways to surprise me
Sure it’s not technically a fillibuster, but if he can go over 24 hrs and 18 minutes, he’ll beat Strom Thurmond’s… current record holding fillibuster length for… opposing the Civil Rights Act, back in 1957.
Erp.
Well then.
https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster_in_the_United_States_Senate
He’s done it.
Excellent work Sen. Booker.
Call me a radical leftist. But I’m much more interested in defeating fascism than breaking bureaucratic records.
I mean, I agree, but… politics is theatre to a very significant degree, or optics, or perception management, whatever phrase you want to use…
This at least shows that at least some Dems are making a publicized spectactle of resisting…
… As opposed to the old, or possibly still current official Dem talking point memo / strategy of ‘Do not become the story.’ … which translates to ‘be a collaborator / bend over and take it’.
Fillibustering and doing absolutely everything possible to fuck with the opposition party… is literally exactly what the Republicans did back when the Dems had a trifecta during at least half of Obama’s first term.
All the Dems have to do is literally copy that playbook… and Booker here is actually doing it.
Having a functional opposition party that actually looks like it is trying to resist fascists in the government is a pretty important part of an overall societal resistance to fascism.
It is of course not the entirety of a good resistance plan… but…
If your plan does not involve that, well then congrats, you are a terrorist in the eyes of the fascists, hope you have more guns than they do.
Dude, breaking records is how to get the media to pay attention, spread the message and hopefully encourage resistance.
Putting down others who take a stand instead of promoting change (aka progressive ideals) is counterintuitive to the term Radical Leftist that you claim to be.
If you are interested in defeating fascism, then give constructive criticism and ideas to fight back. Don’t put out the fire instead of feeding it.
Wouldn’t it get more media attention, spread a more encouraging message to do this when there is literally any legislation that he is stopping?
Criticizing praxis of those in power is valid and good, and it’s incredibly frustrating to see democrats remember that they can do things like this only when it doesn’t actually have any tangible effect.
I agree that more could have been done, but we don’t live in a perfect world. Personally, his speech has inspired me to get involved with the protests April 5th. The visibility of SOMEONE doing something has directly encouraged ONE individual to reach out to friends and acquaintances to join protesting.
There is censorship in mainstream media with protests. They can’t censor a senator that broke a record speaking for the American people. His timing could have the impact of inspiring others and validation of the american people’s fears and pain. Especially when there is a big protest planned this Saturday across the country that is the same week that our voices were given power.
Giving power to the voices of America is important when censorship is at an all time high and gives validity to the struggles and hardship that we are going through. Our pain must have visibility to inspire change.
Now we have saying and slogans to promote. Finding good trouble and redeem the dream give hope and expression that are shorthand for what we want and will fight for in our hearts.
He better get a god damned round of applause from …well everyone.
He’ll get sanctioned for arbitrary bullshit by republicans and given a stern talking to about unity and bipartisanship from schumer.
Never gonna cheer for genocide.
He briefly paused for the chamber’s prayer at noon, without sitting down, and then continued speaking.
Can an American explain this to me? This is wild. Government should be 100% secular.
I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I see it like adding a wheelchair ramp so handicapped congress people can enter the building on their own.
If someone wasn’t able to become a congress person because it isn’t “accessible” to their religion, that would be pretty bad for democracy (although tbh I wouldn’t mind banning religious people from positions of power in general)
Churches enjoy tax exemptions. Wheelchair users do not. I firmly believe that religion should be completely separate from government.
I think it’s ok if someone who is religious is in government, provided they do their job. Stopping for prayer isn’t doing their job.
Consider a devout Muslim person elected to congress who is not able to pray because they don’t get time throughout the day to do it. As a result, they step down because their faith is important to them.
The “usual suspects” don’t want Muslims in congress, so they claim that prayer breaks are unconstitutional, effectively blocking Muslims from any position in Congress, and weakening our democracy further.
It’s another thing entirely if the “prayer breaks” were something they tried to force onto the rest of the country. That’d be the government trying to use its power to spread a particular religion, which is unconstitutional. But prayer breaks inside Congress are just an accessibility thing.
RESPECT
On a side note (nothing to do with Cory Booker):
the chamber’s prayer at noon
I am once again flabbergasted by the separation of church & state in the US of A.
