Cory Booker makes history with longest Senate floor speech in protest of Trump agenda

By Morgan Rimmer, Manu Raju, Clare Foran and Ted Barrett, CNN

(CNN) — Democratic Sen. Cory Booker mounted a historic protest on the Senate floor across two days, warning against the harms he said President Donald Trump’s administration is inflicting on the American public.

The New Jersey Democrat spoke for 25 hours and 5 minutes, according to his office, breaking the record for the longest floor speech in modern history of the chamber.

Booker, 55, surpassed the late Sen. Strom Thurmond’s speech that lasted 24 hour and 18 minutes in 1957. Booker said that he was speaking “in spite” of the previous record holder’s remarks against the 1957 Civil Rights Act.

“Since I’ve gotten to the Senate, I always felt it was a strange shadow hanging over this institution — that the longest speech, all the issues that have come up, all the noble causes that people have done, or the things that typically try to stop – I just found it strange that he had the record,” Booker told CNN. “And as a guy who grew up with the legends of the Civil Rights Movement, myself, my parents and their friends, it just would seem wrong to me. It always seemed wrong.”

He began his speech at 7 p.m. ET Monday with a vow to keep his protest going as long as he was “physically able” and with nothing, he told CNN, but a Bible verse in his pocket.

The marathon speaking session from Booker, a member of the Senate Democratic leadership team, comes as his party face increasing pressure from their voters to take a harder line against Trump. Locked out of power in Washington, Democrats have limited options and have struggled to find a unified strategy to counter the administration, but Booker’s speech stands out as one of the most high-profile forms of protest by a Democratic lawmaker so far in Trump’s second term.

The speech effectively delayed any legislative business in the Senate on Tuesday as it stretched late into the day, though it amounts to a primarily symbolic rebuke as Booker was not attempting to hold up any specific piece of legislation.

Booker warned in his remarks that the “country is in crisis” as he railed against a wide-range of issues, from castigating Elon Musk’s efforts to overhaul the federal government under Trump to warning of potential cuts to key health care programs for millions of Americans.

“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.”

When he began his remarks Monday night, the New Jersey Democrat said that he was holding the floor in the spirit of the late John Lewis, a civil rights icon and longtime US congressman. In contrast, Thurmond set his record – which Booker has now overtaken – speaking against the 1957 Civil Rights Act.

As he approached the record, Booker spoke about his reverence for Lewis and became emotional when he said he had promised to make him proud as he neared the end of his life.

“He wouldn’t treat this moral moment like it was normal,” Booker said of Lewis, asking, “Where does the Constitution live? On paper or in our hearts?”

Booker, who has served in the Senate since 2013, is the first Black American to represent New Jersey in the Senate and is one of only five Black senators currently serving in the 100-member chamber.

A number of Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, joined him on the floor in a show of support for stretches of time. Booker never yielded the floor for a break as doing so would have allowed the presiding officer to move on with Senate business. The only time he was not speaking was when he briefly paused for the chamber’s prayer at noon on Tuesday and when he took questions at various points from Senate Democratic colleagues.

“We should be stepping up and saying we accept a lot of responsibility for this moment, but we also have a lot of responsibility for meeting this moment. And so my staff and I have talked a lot about other things that we can do to contribute to the larger cause of our country right now,” Booker told CNN after he had concluded his speech.

In recent years, the chamber has seen a number of marathon speeches mounted by senators, including: Jeff Merkley against Neil Gorsuch in 2017; Sen. Chris Murphy on gun control in 2016; Rand Paul over National Security Agency surveillance programs in 2015; and Ted Cruz against the Affordable Care Act 2013.

Cruz, whose 2013 speech lasted 21 hours, said his advice for Booker was simply: “Wear comfortable shoes and don’t drink water.”

Booker, for his part, said he had stopped eating and dehydrated himself in the days leading up to his speech, leading to muscle cramps and spasms as the hours wore on.

The speech was not a filibuster because Booker was not blocking legislation or a nomination, but it kept the Senate floor open – and floor staff and US Capitol Police detailed to the chamber working – for as long as he continued speaking. Lawmakers had concluded voting on Monday before Booker began speaking.

Booker sounds warning on Trump policy

Booker and his staff prepared 1,164 pages of material ahead of the speech, according to a person familiar with the matter, and the senator touched on a wide range of issues. At times, he appeared to grow emotional as he warned of the potential impact of Trump’s legislative agenda and policies.

During his remarks, Booker raised alarm over the potential for cuts to Medicaid by congressional Republicans, describing the harm that would cause to his constituents and Americans across the country.

Republicans have insisted that they will not cut Medicaid, but have said they will go after waste, fraud and abuse and have proposed deep spending cuts – without specifying exactly what programs the cuts could come from – as part of their legislative agenda.

At one point, Booker invoked the late Sen. John McCain, reflecting on the Arizona Republican’s pivotal health care vote in 2017, and drawing parallels to this moment.

“It is maddening in this country to create greater and greater health care crisis and for us not to solve it but to battle back and forth between trying to make incremental changes or to tear it all down with no plan to make it better, leaving more Americans suffering,” Booker said.

Loudly raising his voice and speaking with emotion, Booker said, “Sen. McCain, I know you wouldn’t sanction this, I know you would be screaming, I’ve seen how angry you can get, John McCain. I’ve seen you tear people apart on this floor, Democrat and Republican, for doing the same stupid thing over and over again.”

“Listen to John McCain explain why he voted ‘no’ the last time the Republican Party tried to unite and tear down health care with no idea how to fix it, threatening to put millions of Americans in financial crisis and health care crisis. I can’t believe we are here again.”

Democrats praise Booker’s effort

Booker thanked each of his Democratic colleagues for their help as he continued speaking, repeatedly expressing his love for them. He noted that Murphy had stayed with him all night – a role reversal from when the Connecticut Democrat spoke for 14 hour and 52 minutes following the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016 and Booker stuck by him.

“I want to thank Sen. Murphy in particular because he’s been with me the whole night. He hasn’t left my side, and in some ways the debt is repaid,” Booker said, adding: “His debt is paid, but I’ve got fuel in the tank.”

Murphy has seemingly smoothed out the process by discussing the effort with senators as they arrive on the floor and arranging speakers to ask Booker questions.

As Democrats step on to the floor, many have given Booker a thumbs-up or, as Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz did, a brief hug. During their questions, Booker has bounced from one foot to the other, shifting his weight as the hours of standing take their toll, and read notes passed to him by staff.

Booker and Schumer briefly sparred over New York sports teams during their exchange, though they could agree that they both support the Giants.

Schumer had been the first to pose a question to his New Jersey colleague, and he 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, as you document,” the New York Democrat 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.”

Booker then yielded to Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester for further questions, noting that before he began speaking, the Delaware Democrat prayed with him on the Senate floor.

At 7:19 pm ET on Tuesday, Schumer asked Booker to yield for a question, asking if he knew he had broken the record.

“Do you know how proud this caucus is of you?” he then asked, as the full viewing galleries, House Democrats standing along the back of the chamber and Senate Democrats rose in a standing ovation.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments Tuesday.

CNN’s Alison Main contributed to this report.

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