Senator Cory Booker gave a marathon all-night speech on the Senate floor that stretched into early Tuesday, in an effort to put a spotlight on what he called the Trump administration’s “recklessness.”
Mr. Booker, the New Jersey Democrat, began speaking on Monday evening and said he planned to continue for as long as he was “physically able.” He was still going as of 5 a.m. Eastern time.
The speech focused in part on what Mr. Booker said were President Trump’s plans to cut funding for Medicaid, among other programs. The White House has denied that it plans to cut Medicaid benefits, but the president and his allies have attacked Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security over what they claim is waste, fraud and abuse.
“I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able,” Mr. Booker said near the start of his speech. “I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our nation is in crisis.”
Mr. Booker — wearing a dark suit and tie, and an American flag pin — stopped speaking to allow questions from fellow Democrats, including Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, without formally relinquishing the floor.
His speech was not a filibuster — a procedural tactic that has been used to block legislation on many issues, including civil rights — because it did not come during a debate over a specific bill or nominee. But it could still disrupt official business if it continues past noon, when the Senate is scheduled to convene.
Before his speech, Mr. Booker said on social media that he was heading to the Senate floor because Mr. Trump and Elon Musk had shown what he called “a complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution and the needs of the American people.”
“These are not normal times in America,” Mr. Booker said in the speech. “And they should not be treated as such.”
Mr. Musk’s feed on X, his social media platform, was active late into the night, but it made no mention of Mr. Booker or his all-night speech. Neither did Mr. Trump’s Truth Social feed.
As viewers followed along on Mr. Booker’s official YouTube channel, he quoted from celebrated speeches by Representative John Lewis and Senator John McCain, both of whom have died. But not every moment has been infused with soaring political rhetoric. He also read aloud from newspaper articles.
With dawn about an hour away, Mr. Booker, a onetime presidential candidate, looked full of energy as he read from papers on his lectern in a booming voice. But the length of his session, at 10 hours and counting, was not close to making Senate history.
Since 1915, many of the 48 all-night sessions in the chamber — defined as those lasting past 4 a.m. — have gone well over 24 hours. Senator Ted Cruz’s verbal assault on President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act in 2013 lasted 21 hours and 19 minutes.
Of those 48 sessions, the longest by far was a 1960 debate over a civil-rights bill that lasted 125 hours and 16 minutes. There was one 15-minute recess.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/us/politics/booker-senate-trump.html
