Booker Stands Up to Trump Agenda in Record-Setting Senate Floor Speech
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) speaking in the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee confirmation hearing for Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on January 23, 2025.
Image credit: Thomas Witham & USDAgov, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Image credit: Thomas Witham & USDAgov, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) delivered a record-setting 25-hour and 4-minute-long speech in the U.S. Senate.
Delivered between April 6th-7th, Booker took to the floor saying he was doing so with the “intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able." His speech focused nearly entirely on critiquing Trump and his administration and their wanton abuse of power against the people.
Members of Congress have many instruments of protest available to them, but have generally acted timidly so far. Instead of voting NO on stripping away basic rights, allowing more tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk, or demanding quorum calls, denying confirmations, and much more, our elected representatives have bowed to authoritarianism.
Booker’s speech may mark a turning point. Not only did Booker speak forcefully about the harms being wrought by the Trump administration, throughout his speech, dozens of Democrats joined in to support, giving Booker the chance to rest his voice as they asked questions and showed support.
We celebrate this speech for breaking the previous record set by the segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond (R-NC) in 1957 during his Civil Rights Act filibuster, and for giving Democrats an opportunity to show inter-party unity against Trump at a crucial time. As our rights and economic well-being continue to hang by a thread, we need our elected officials to stand up for us.
We need them to condemn the violence and hatred being waged by Trump and his cronies against the common people, and to take action against him. It is our hope that this is the first of many strong actions yet to come on behalf of the American people.
