Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., took the Senate floor at 7 p.m. Monday and vowed to speak out against President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the administration’s policies for as long as he is “physically able.”
He was holding the floor and speaking into Tuesday morning.
“I’ve taken the Senate floor and will speak for as long as I’m physically able to lift the voices of Americans who are being harmed and not being heard in this moment of crisis,” Booker wrote on X before his speech began.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk have shown a complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution, and the needs of the American people,” he added.
Booker’s speech so far has covered several topics, including cutbacks to Social Security, research funding, immigration, national security, and more, taking often-lengthy questions and statements from Democrat senators throughout the night without yielding the floor.
Such questions and comments are allowed under Senate rules, but Booker must remain standing to hold the floor. During the night, he took questions from Sens. Andy Kim, D-N.Y., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and early Tuesday took comments and statements from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
In 2016, Murphy took the Senate floor for a 15-hour filibuster to demand gun-control legislation after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando.
The New Jersey senator’s speech is not a filibuster, as he is not delaying the passage of any bills or blocking the confirmation of any Trump nominees.
His stance is taking place after nine Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, voted with nearly all Republicans to advance a GOP spending bill last month.
The votes prevented a government shutdown but angered liberal voters who want their lawmakers to stand up to Trump, which Booker acknowledged.
“I’ve been hearing from people all over the state, and indeed all over the nation, calling upon folks in Congress to do more, to do things that recognize the urgency, the crisis of the moment,” Booker commented in a post on social media.
“We all have the responsibility, I believe, to do something to different, to cause what John Lewis called ‘good trouble,'” Booker said, about the late civil rights leader and congressman, who died in 2020.
Booker still has several hours to go, though, before beating the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., who in 1957 held the Senate floor for more than 24 hours while trying to stop the passage of the Civil Rights Act, which was passed the next year.
At the time, The Washington Post reported that after 24 hours, “a stubble of gray beard had sprouted on his chin.”
A Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled later Tuesday on retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In February, Trump fired Air Force General C.Q. Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and named Caine to succeed him.
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