Senator Cory Booker speaks for record time on Senate floor, criticising Trump and Musk
Topic:World Politics
28m ago28 minutes agoTue 1 Apr 2025 at 11:22pm
Loading...
In short:
New Jersey democratic senator Cory Booker has broken the record for longest speech on the US Senate floor, and he is still speaking.
He began speaking at 7pm local time in Washington on Monday and is still going, more than 24 hours and 18 minutes later.
What's next?
The senator has said he would remain there as long as he was "physically able".
New Jersey democratic senator Cory Booker has broken the record for longest speech on the US Senate floor, and he is still speaking.
He holds the floor with a marathon speech that has lasted for more than 24 hours and 18 minutes.
The 55-year-old began speaking at 7pm local time in Washington on Monday and has continued through the night and into Tuesday afternoon.
The record for the longest individual speech belongs to Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, according to the Senate's records.
senator cory booker speaks to the senate floor
The senator said the Trump administration "continues to plunge us into chaos". (AP: Senate Television)
The senator has said he would remain there as long as he was "physically able".
This feat of endurance is to show the Democrats' resistance to Donald Trump's actions during the first two months of his second term as president.
Senator Booker accused Mr Trump of "recklessly" challenging the nation's democratic institutions.
During his speech, he has criticised the campaign by the Republican president and his key adviser, Elon Musk, to slash large swaths of the federal government.
"Our institutions are being recklessly and unconstitutionally attacked and even shattered," said Senator Booker, who was first elected to the Senate in 2013.
"These are not normal times in our nation.
"They should not be treated as such in the United States Senate. The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent, and we all must do more to stand against them."
White House says senator wants his 'moment'
Mr Trump, in his first weeks in office, moved to outright shutter government arms including the Department of Education and withhold congressionally approved spending and his administration has questioned the authority of the federal courts to constrain its policies.
Democrats have become restive in recent weeks as Mr Trump, backed by a Republican-controlled Congress, has shaken up long-established US alliances and cut more than 100,000 federal workers.
"Cory Booker is looking for another 'I am Spartacus' moment, but that didn't work for his failed presidential campaign, and it didn't work to block President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh," said deputy White House press secretary Harrison Fields.
Senator Booker's speech, since it is not aimed at a specific piece of legislation, is not technically considered a filibuster, though it has halted other Senate action.
Loading...
A unifying theme of Senator Booker's wrath was Mr Musk's campaign to slash the size and scope of the US government.
"The Trump-Vance administration continues to plunge us into chaos," he said.
"Trump's trade war on our allies will only increase costs and fears for American families."
Energy levels ran low as record approached
As it rolled past 23 hours, Mr Booker's speech became the second-longest in Senate history.
"I don't have that much gas in the tank," he said at that moment, yet anticipation in the building was growing that he could surpass the record.
He had already surpassed the longest speech time for a sitting senator — the 21 hours and 19 minutes that Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, had held the floor to contest the Affordable Care Act in 2013.
Responding to his record being broken, Mr Cruz posted a meme of Homer Simpson crying on social media.
The only breaks he took were when a stream of fellow Democrats, one by one, came to the floor to ask him a question, allowing him to keep control of his speaking time.
At one point, he dropped a piece of paper from his desk and very slowly and carefully began bending to pick it up, only to be rescued by fellow Democratic senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, who sprang to his aid.
Reuters/AP
Posted28m ago28 minutes agoTue 1 Apr 2025 at 11:22pm, updatedJust nowTue 1 Apr 2025 at 11:50pm
Copy link
X (formerly Twitter)