Senator Cory Booker, DN.J., illustrated in March, started talking to the Senate on Monday evening to protest against the policies of the Trump administration.
Mark Schiefelbein / AP
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Mark Schiefelbein / AP
Senator Cory Booker spent on Monday evening on the Senate soil, delivering a speech without a stratum protesting against the policies of the Trump administration.
The Democrat of New Jersey took the podium at 7 pm, promising to speak “as long as I am physically capable”. He was still standing – with glasses and papers in hand – at 8 am on Tuesday, taking periodic breaks by returning to the questions of several democratic colleagues.
“I heard people of all my state and, in fact, everywhere in the nation inviting people to the congress to do more, to do things that recognize the urgency, the crisis of the moment,” said Booker in a video published on social networks in advance. “And so we all have a responsibility, I believe, to do something different, to provoke – as (the deceased benchmark) John Lewis said -” good troubles “, and that includes me.”
Booker’s speech targeted President Trump, the White House principal advisor, Elon Musk and the politicians who, according to him, show “complete contempt for the rule of law, the constitution and the needs of the American people”.
He covered a wide range of subjects overnight, health care and social security for immigration, economics, public education and freedom of expression. And that included parties of letters that Booker said that he had received voters affected in recent weeks.
“In just 71 days, the president inflicted damage after prejudice to the security of the Americans, financial stability, the foundations of our democracy and any sense of common decency,” said Booker in his introductory remarks. “These are not normal times in our country. And they should not be treated as such in the American Senate.”
Trump and Musk did not publicly comment on Booker’s speech on Tuesday morning. This comes at one time for Booker’s party: nine democrats joined the Republicans to adopt a expenditure bill supported by Trump last month, preventing a government closure but alienating voters who wish that the legislators postpone the president’s agenda.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2UTLMXAWTE
What are the rules?
The use of long speeches to delay the legislation, known as the Filibustier, is a secular tradition in the Senate. But this is not technically what Booker’s speech is, because it does not try to block a bill or a specific candidate.
Under the rules of the Senate, unless special limits on the debate are in force, a senator who has been recognized by the president can speak as long as they wish, according to the Congressal Research Service (CRS).
“They generally cannot be forced to yield the soil, or even interrupted, without their consent,” he said.
There are, however, some requirements that they must meet. On the one hand, the senator must “remain standing and speak more or less continuous”, says the CRS, who becomes more difficult as the hours pass.
Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Tweeted on Monday evening that Booker had used an “interesting tactic” for this purpose.
“Cory had a page from the Senate removing his chair to eliminate any temptation to sit,” he wrote, just under three hours in the speech.
Booker used another strategy at different times: allow colleagues to ask questions, which is the only way that a senator can give in without losing the floor. But this is only a partial relief, the senator must remain standing while others speak.
Booker gave the floor periodically to several Democrats, including Murphy, Senator Andy Kim from New Jersey, Senator Peter Welch from Vermont and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand from New York.
How long can these speeches last?
THE New York Times Note that Booker’s speech could disrupt official affairs if it continues afternoon, when the Senate should come together.
At 12 noon and counting, it is certainly a marathon effort. But it is far from the longest to honor the Senate soil of recent history.
Murphy led the Democrats in a push for the legislation on the control of firearms which lasted 15 hours after the shooting of the Orlando Pulse nightclub in 2016.
The Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas held the prosecution for 21 hours and 19 minutes while he pleaded in vain for the financing of Obamacare in 2013 – more than eight hours more than the republican of Kentucky Rand Paul when he appointed the CIA of John Brennan for months earlier.
The longest, ever -recorded filiblust was a 1957 speech by the Democratic Senator at the time, Strom Thurmond de Caroline du Sud – in opposition to the Civil Rights Act – which lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes.
The media pointed out at the time that Thurmond supported himself with “diced pumpernickel and pieces of cooked hamburger” and sips of orange juice. His aid installed a bucket in the locker room so that he could keep a foot on the ground of the Senate if he needed to relieve himself.
