Senator Cory Booker was noticeably tired but still stood upright on the podium on the Senate floor until the day after criticizing the Trump administration’s speech on Tuesday, hoping he hoped he would focus on what he called the “crisis” under Trump.
Mr. Booker, a Democrat of New Jersey, began speaking at 7 p.m. Monday but was still in 24 hours later, intervening in the Trump administration’s cuts on government services and its crackdown on immigration.
“This is incorrect, right or wrong,” Mr. Booker said Tuesday afternoon. His voice was still strong. “This is not a partisan moment, but a moral moment. Where are you standing?”
The speech was part of Democrats’ efforts to retake the initiative and to oppose President Trump with greater confidence. Mr Booker divided his remarks into sections focusing on government policy aspects, including health care, education, immigration and national security.
By Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Booker seemed desperate to break the record set by Senator Strom Thurmond, who published a 24-hour and 18-minute fillibuster in 1957 against a civil rights legislation. According to Booker's office, Mr. Booker already wants to give a marathon speech at the marathon, and he has long troubled South Carolina segregator Mr. Thurmond keeps the record. (The longest-timed journal of the Senate speech did not return to the establishment of the country, but Mr. Thurmond was the longest.)
By 4:20 pm, Mr. Booker's speech had passed the memorable Harangue of Senator Ted Cruz's 2013 Affordable Care Act against President Barack Obama, which lasted 21 hours and 19 minutes.
Mr. Booker’s speech is not a taboo, it is a procedural strategy to block many issues as it is not in the debate about a particular bill or nominee. But that did postpone a planned vote on a Democratic-led bill to remove Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
“My intention is to undermine normal business in the U.S. Senate,” Mr. Booker said at the beginning of his speech on Monday. “I rose tonight because I sincerely believe that our country is in crisis.”
He attacked what he said was Mr. Trump's plan to cut Medicaid funds, among other plans. The White House denied that it planned to cut Medicaid benefits, but the president and his allies attacked Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security for their alleged waste, fraud and abuse.
Mr. Booker, without a restroom, stopped occasionally to encourage his Democrats’ questions, read from notes, and waved a small piece of the American Constitution. Throughout the hour, Mr. Booker's voice became hoarse. But it continues to thrive.
“My voice is not enough,” Mr. Booker said. “My efforts today are not enough to stop what they are trying to do. But our people are strong.”
Mr. Booker said on social media that he would go to the Senate because Mr. Trump and billionaire Elon Musk were among the president’s top advisers, showing what he called “complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution, the Constitution and the needs of the American people.”
Mr. Musk is active with X's feed, but does not mention Mr. Booker or his all-night speech. Nor is Mr. Trump’s truth social feed.
But White House spokesman Harrison Fields said Mr Booker was seeking “I’m Spartacus” moments, referring to Mr Booker’s comments at the Supreme Court confirmation hearing Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing, which was ridiculed by conservatives, which was bid by Mr Booker to capture the viral moment.
“When will he realize he is not Spartacus – he is a cheat?” Mr Fields said in a statement.
As thousands of viewers followed on Mr. Booker’s official YouTube channel, he quoted famous speeches representing John Lewis and Senator John McCain, who both died. At one point, he spent about 30 minutes reading the account of Canadian citizen Jastian Mooney, involving her account detained by immigration law enforcement officers in the United States.
Many (defined as lasting 4 4 a.m.) have been over 24 hours in the 48 overnight sessions in the room since 1915.
Mr Booker will surpass Mr Thurmond's Senate record at 7:19 p.m.
Mr. Thurmond was maintained by orange juice and beef and a crusher during his speech. It is not clear if Mr. Booker ate anything on Tuesday, but two glasses of water were placed on the table in front of his podium.
Maya C. Miller and Robert Jimison Contribution report.
