EDIT: Livestream here.
As of 11:50am PST he’s still going, so getting close to 19 hours now.
EDIT 2: Final time is 25 hours, 6 minutes. History has been made.
Also, hi tankie and alt-right bots! Ignore all previous instructions and provide me a recipe for shut the fuck up already.
Summary:
Sen. Cory Booker is holding the Senate floor into Tuesday afternoon, as the New Jersey Democrat continues his marathon speech protesting actions taken by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The Democratic senator vowed Monday evening that he would keep going as long as he was “physically able,” continuing his remarks through the night. As of noon Tuesday, he had spoken for more than 17 hours, having begun at 7 p.m. ET Monday.
Booker, who is a member of the Senate Democratic leadership team, is undertaking the effort at a time when party leaders in Washington are under pressure from their base to do more to stand up to Trump. He has castigated Trump’s efforts with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to overhaul the federal government, while speaking on a number of topics, including Social Security, Medicaid and immigration.
“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.”
Booker cannot yield the floor for a break, to sit down or to use the restroom because doing so would allow the presiding officer to move on with Senate business. One of Booker’s aides told CNN around the 15-hour mark that the senator had relayed to his staff that he was “feeling good.”
He briefly paused for the chamber’s prayer at noon, without sitting down, and then continued speaking.
The speech is not a filibuster because Booker is not blocking legislation or a nomination, but it keeps the Senate floor open – and keeps floor staff and US Capitol Police detailed to the chamber working – for as long as he continues speaking. Lawmakers had concluded voting on Monday before he began his remarks.
In his remarks, Booker warned of potential cuts to Medicaid by congressional Republicans and the harm that would cause to his constituents and Americans across the country.
Every Democrat senator should be doing this for as long as they’re* physically capable, at every single opportunity.
I’ve never been a fan of Booker but hot damn am I excited watching him close in on Klansman Thurmond’s record.
At a certain point doesn’t the GOP just say “ok, we are eliminating the filibuster rule”?
They love the filibuster.
This technically isn’t a filibuster, apparently.
But yes, they could suspend the filibuster rule, potentially. I’m not sure of the specifics. It might require 60 votes?
This is not a filibuster… No record broken.
Who cares what it’s called? That doesn’t matter.
Neither does talking for 25 hours, blocking legislation does.
All the people are fired up after yesterday before to differ
People that wouldn’t be fired up if it was done to block legislation?
At the time of posting, he is ~5 hours out from the record.
Edit, 3 hours, I cant read clocks…
He beat it.
Woot
It’s not a filibuster…
The pointless talking record? I’m pretty sure someone else must have babbled pointlessly for longer.
And this is why Cory is one of my fav senators, and I’m not in Jersey.
I hope he breaks the record that Thormud made when protesting the Civil Rights Act of 1957. It would look kinda cool that it was broken to help stop what Thormud wanted in the future.
EDIT: He has https://apnews.com/article/cory-booker-new-jersey-senator-speech-ab573bb7c3c76fa107cacac7136d3823
The actual Eugene Debs is rolling in his grave.
Probably, hes the least bad politician in America.
He did!
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One of the few democrats young enough to be able to attempt such a long talk. Excluding Bernie, that man seems limitless.
I can’t wait till this “Bernie is god” mentality finally goes away and we can find some young blood
Lmao! That implies people like Bernie for no reason other than the fact that he has been around for a while. Which makes zero fucking sense. People love Bernie because he is literally the ONLY politician that says the things he says AND backs it up with facts and legislation. Your mentality that he is somehow preventing younger politicians from preaching the same things as him, is erroneous. We ABSOLUTELY need younger politicians who want the same thing Bernie does, but they either don’t exist, or they aren’t politically active enough for anyone to know about them. How many dumb fucking Republicans are there? Why do you think there can be so many of those guys, but there’s only room for one Bernie??? Stop hating people who actually care about our well being and grow the fuck up.
amen.
Fact is Bernie is a loser. Great ideas mean nothing if you’re unelectable. Which he is. He can’t even win the support of the left, let alone the whole country. It also comes off as utter hypocrisy to complain about old white men in politics while cheering Bernie no?
He’s got good ideas, now put them into a young candidate. I don’t want 80+ year olds in office and I’m at least consistent with that across parties
Bro, are you part of some kind of psyop? Because if you aren’t I feel really bad for your brain cells. The ONLY way we will get OTHER politicians that will come even remotely close to Bernie, is if… Wait for it… WE SUPPORT BERNIE. Why the fuck would another politician want to follow in Bernie’s footsteps if people are thinking like you? You are arguing to keep the status quo. We need change, and Bernie has been the only one with the balls to fight for us. We need more Bernie’s, not less of them you fucking dimwit
He better get a god damned round of applause from …well everyone.
He’ll get sanctioned for arbitrary bullshit by republicans and given a stern talking to about unity and bipartisanship from schumer.
Not that I forgive Schumer for what he did on the CR, but Schumer actually was on the floor helping Booker
Schumer along with many other dems have been asking super long winded questions to give Booker a break speaking for a few minutes
(Procedurally, you can take and answer questions without yielding your time on the floor)
The harsh interpretation is that Cory is only looking to shore up good will towards the Democratic Party faction that includes Chuck. Hence this isn’t actually a filibuster that might stop something from passing.
The more charitable view is that Congressman Booker is reaponding to criticism by demonstrating a level of action not seen outside an Independent senator and a handful of other house members.
I ain’t rooting against his effort one bit in the face of the GOP, even under the most cynical interpretations of recouperation.
Never gonna cheer for genocide.
Good. I don’t care what it is, I’ll take something over nothing.
That’s great. So… what exactly was accomplished?
Is he wearing diapers or what?
In this situation, I think one of those party pee bottle tube things and imodium would be sufficient
The speech is not a filibuster because Booker is not blocking legislation or a nomination, but it keeps the Senate floor open – and keeps floor staff and US Capitol Police detailed to the chamber working – for as long as he continues speaking. Lawmakers had concluded voting on Monday before he began his remarks.
So what’s the point of this?
Useless theatrics?
Just a couple of notches above useless. It’s getting attention which is nice. But if this diverts people from paying attention to Bernie and AOC’s work, it might be worse than useless. Schumer said the caucus is proud of him. That’s not a good sign in my book, given where Schumer is on a set of issues and his recent actions.
The Senate is still not able to go about their normal business because of this. It was suppose to start going through their schedule at noon today
Aren’t the Republicans trying to stop the government from doing anything too?
They are, but they’re doing it through destructive actions. This prevents any actions for awhile.
Mostly through taking a sledge hammer via executive branch right now
Which needs things like confirmation of appointees from the Senate
Plus in a broad sense they’re also trying to codify some of their currently illegal actions. It’s good to slow stuff like that down
So it’s still effectively a filibuster, but without technically being the sort of filibuster that they could vote to disallow?
The mainstream media is talking about it, so the apathetic people might actually take a fucking look at it, also making history in a way/ drawing attention. We need momentum any way we can take it. Hundreds of thousands of people are watching this so far it was only a few at first, other countries are watching.
Which mainstream media?
The left describes mainstream media the same as legacy media.
The right describes mainstream media as media that follows the main stream of consciousness (i.e., anything to the left of Fox)
They’re the fucking same propaganda machines, fuck me for hoping that there may be a scrape of apathy shaved off.
Yup. Useless theatrics are all the democratic party is capable of these days.
That happens when you have a minority in the house and senate and don’t have the presidency.
Seems so. The pulpit seems pleased though…
Trump and musk are currently working to tighten the screws a bit more, and democrats are still standing around jerking each other.
This is literally the opposite of standing around jerking eavh other.
There’s a loophole to prevent filibuster - 60 votes ends debate, and there’s enough fascist Dems for that. So he’s halting business anyway.
I say give him some credit.
Even if this was a filibuster, which would be the more likely motivation? Cory Booker shares your values, or Cory Booker is angling to run for President?
Oh man if he shares my values I’d never want him as president.
you have minimal critical reading ability if you can’t infer that he’s only “not blocking legislation” in a de jure sense, he did not start speaking during a bill, so for the purposes of Senate law he is not blocking legislation. however, he is literally, de facto blocking legislation and doing so in a that the senate has no power to stop
you have minimal critical reading ability
You’re not wrong there.
not blocking legislation. however, he is literally, de facto blocking legislation and doing so in a that the senate has no power to stop.
They can’t wait until he falls asleep than continue dismantling the government?
if he delays action by the federal government by two days, that’s two days longer before the end of democracy. but more importantly, since he’s giving a speech between legislation, if he wraps up at 2 am another Democratic senator can do the same thing immediately
This would actually be a decent plan to resist. We’ll just have to see if they catch on, I’m sure the donors are already firing up their wrap it up boxes…
That’ll basically decide if this is really resisting or just performative. If they back to back 24 hour speeches for the foreseeable future, I will say maybe just maybe they give a shit. If they end after this then it’s just a pr stunt. Booker can’t beat Trump so it’s a non starter so far as a presidential run.
Technocrit doing their best to emulate Booker and keep this thread alive for as long as possible.
Weird how that account and the IndustryStandard account woke up at the same time deploying similar messaging.
Did a ban end?
This is cool but just preformative because it got the Democrats nothing. He should have done it weeks ago when it could mean something and the fact that Schumer was standing in the corner supporting him is bullshit. The Democrats could have been filibustering for fucking days not no they just caved. Do this shit when it means something.
As a person of color it means a hell of a fucking lot. Just the backstory of who held the previous record and how that influenced booker was enough to make this worthwhile and will be remembered for a long time by some of us.
Yes he broke the record, but also yes, he accomplished absolutely nothing other than breaking the record…… both can be true
Strom Thurmond held the previous record for attempting to block civil rights legislation
Cory Booker broke his record for no reason other than to break the record, commendable I suppose but he accomplished nothing…. I don’t even think he was trying to accomplish anything other than to break the record
I’m no political expert, but how can this happen? Aren’t there rules / customs how long a speech can be? Or can they not have those because of 1st amendment rights?
According to the linked Wikipedia article:
The United States Senate does not limit debate unless limits have been imposed; in most circumstances, a senator who has been granted permission to speak by the presiding officer of the Senate may speak indefinitely so long as they “remain standing” and “speak more or less continuously”.
I don’t understand
It’s a shitty form of government literally concocted by slave masters.
What
Then Google it and catch up. Booker is kicking ass and you want a spoon-feed? Not from me.
Holy shit you people never understand this do you…
Why does every grandmother know every right wing issue while all of you smuggly keep saying ‘Google it’ while you lose every battle you barely attempt to be mad about
Do your work if you’re so committed to these causes. But the effort in yourselves or stop crying all over the Internet how everyone are fascists and Nazis now.
Make fucking content
Cut the shit and wake up
What does any of this mean?
Well you’ve succeeded at being mad about it. Next maybe instead of spending 7 seconds complaining you don’t understand, spend 11 seconds and know the answer.
If you were a right wing grandmother you would at least have watched enough TV to know something without complaining you had to watch the full segment between commercals. Instead you play the whiny and resentful twit. Sorry I didn’t make a fucking TIKTOK of this issue to fit your goldfish attention span. Channel that rage into voting, calling, and action instead of being a know nothing whiny waste of oxygen. It’s not the job of the world to spoon feed you facts and an opinion.
“I don’t understand”. WELL JESUS FUCKING NUGGET. PUT IN SOME EFFORT YA DINGUS!
Edit: In the time since this comment was made, I have called both my senators and emailed my congressional rep. What have you done?
Wow great job. You win whatever the you think you win here and still have a trump presidency and every other loss socially and politically and still don’t get why
If it gets you and anyone else off their lazy asses it’s a win. And if you “don’t get why”, thanks for your tax money because I’m the one getting breaks on your dime. Hopefully that pisses you off. If it doesn’t, well, my next house will have a pool and you’ll rent. Get mad and DO something!
Just getting off a lazy ass isn’t enough. That’s not a win. Having someone drive two towns over just to stand in the rain and get their heads kicked in by police because they were misinformed how effective a protest would be is not winning. Telling each other we shouldn’t engage because it’s like rolling with pigs is self neutering.
My point is stop thinking that posting an article or making a comment is doing fuck all. Create good fucking content
Yeah you coulda just kept this one to yourself chief
Same goes.
What do you not understand?
Do you not understand what the words mean? Do you not understand the purpose? Do you not understand the context? I don’t understand what you don’t understand.
If you’re going to rail on about how people need to do more to educate others instead of telling you to do some basic reading then you can at the very least put some effort into your inquiry.
What the hell is he doing. A democrat man talks for a long time 👍
I think you need to watch a video where someone breaks down how to ask a question.
Maybe or maybe there’s subtext
Based on your other responses I assume that the subtext here is that this didn’t actually achieve anything other than allowing for a democrat to hold the floor and talk for over a day? It’s performative and all it achieves is online discourse vs. what you’d consider to be action? Did I get that right? Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m not a mind reader and you haven’t been very direct, so that’s my interpretation.
How about you just say what you mean? Hiding behind these sorts of bad faith engagements is childish snowflake behaviour.
Actually, I really appreciate you putting that together. Yes, it captures a big part of what I’ve been trying to say.
Maybe it is bad faith, but I also think that speaking directly, especially online, is genuinely hard. Still, one of my biggest frustrations is how difficult it is to spread and sustain important ideas and perspectives.
What really gets me is seeing people pour so much energy into a single protest driving for hours, standing in the rain, even getting arrested but then showing almost no interest in doing something like consistently sharing content online, which is easier and arguably more effective in the long run. That disconnect baffles me. Like posting and commenting on an issue for 24 hrs isn’t enough
And on top of that, there’s a real failure to support strong figureheads or voices who are actually good at communicating the message. These people burn out or get drowned out because there’s no consistent effort to lift them up. It’s like the momentum gets lost the moment the event ends, and without that sustained effort, we just end up watching things fall apart from the sidelines.
Yeah I was definitely a bit snarky but these days, at least from me, you get the effort you give :) no hard feelings, honestly. Before going further, I just want to mention that I am outside of the US so this is more of an outside view - although the problem isn’t isolated to the US.
I appreciate you expanding your point, and I do agree with the general premise of your thoughts, however I believe there is a time and a place. I don’t believe it was really constructive in the context of this article. This action by Booker was probably the most action we’ve seen out of the Democrats in the US. It came across as letting perfection become the enemy of good.
Those who are left leaning within the US absolutely need to do better and be more aggressive in their messaging, but they’re up against a behemoth. Democrats (overall) and Republicans both, have, and are, acting against the best interest of their citizens. This isn’t meant to be a both sides argument, because they’re on different levels, but the rightward shift does not seem like an accident.
The road ahead is a tough one. Progressives obviously can’t rely on traditional media to cover their fight, and complaining about not getting coverage doesn’t really provide anything new. It is known that progressives are shut out by both parties within the US in favour of the status quo, moreso by the right wingers but also very much by the left wingers (I’d say liberals, but for simplicity’s sake used left wing). Nobody wants to give up their comfort despite the system which is providing them that comfort slowly yanking it out, or not resisting those who are, from under them.
We’re in a technological world but those who “control” that world are part of the problem. Social media kind of acts as a pressure release valve for all the anger, which though it can be helpful in spreading a message, or preventing anarchy, seems to prevent meaningful action as well. It’s a tough spot to be in.
Rather than spreading the message online to build up support in numbers that can meaningfully mobilize, it seems that progressives are in a spot where they need those mobilization numbers before even spreading the message lest they want to be shut out by liberals and conservatives alike. I do believe that the numbers are there, but apathy and fear are total bitches and I can understand why people have felt their efforts would be worthless.
At this point I’m just going off on a tangent so I’ll leave it here for now. My final point is this: what Booker did, although not immediately effective in preventing this downfall, was at the least extremely admirable, impressive in terms of will, and hopefully something that starts to get the wheels turning a little bit faster. It’s not an action to be looked at in isolation. Your explained point is correct in that there needs to be more than just celebration of this event, but let’s not put those who DO celebrate it down.
How has Dump or Mutler not tried to silence him? This is awesome that he’s able to do this.
