The speech of the marathon of Senator Cory Booker against Trump Agenda now more than 6 pm – The Mercury News

By Mike Catalini and Stephen Groves | Associated Press

Washington – New Jersey Democrat Senator, Cory Booker, held the Senate soil with a marathon speech that lasted all night and Tuesday afternoon in an endurance feat to show the objections of the Democrats to the radical actions of President Donald Trump.

Booker went to the Senate on Monday evening saying that he would stay there as long as he was “physically capable”. More than 18 hours later, the 55 -year -old senator, a former tight football, was clearly exhausted but still. It was a remarkable endurance demonstration – among the longest in the history of the Senate – while the Democrats try to show their frustrated supporters that they do everything possible to challenge Trump’s agenda.

“These are not normal times in our country,” said Booker, embarking on his speech. “And they should not be treated as such in the American Senate. The threats to the American people and American democracy are serious and urgent, and we all have to do more to stand against them. ”

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Righting, then sometimes leaning over his podium, Booker made his doors for hours against the cups of the social security offices led by the Department of Efficiency of the Government of Advisor Trump, Elon Musk. He listed the impacts of Trump’s first orders and spoke to concerns that wider cuts in the social security net could arrive, although republican legislators say that the program will not be affected.

Booker also read what he said to be voter letters, wrapping and overthrowing his reading glasses. A writer was alarmed by the discourse of the Republican President on the Annex of Greenland and Canada and an “imminent constitutional crisis”.

“I hear you. I see you and I stand here partly because of letters like yours,” said Booker.

While his speech had passed on Tuesday afternoon, Booker obtained the help of Democratic colleagues, who gave him a break to ask him a question and praised his performance. Booker gave in for questions but made sure to say that he would not give up. He stayed standing to comply with the rules of the Senate.

“Your strength, your courage, your clarity have quite less incredible and all of America pays attention to what you say,” said the Democrat chief of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, asking a question to Booker on the Senate soil. “All of America should know that there are so many problems, the disastrous actions of this administration.”

While Booker was held for hour after hour, he seemed to have nothing more than a few glasses of water to support him.

“I will not complain,” said Booker, laughing after a colleague asked how he went on Tuesday afternoon.

Democrats have watched from the gallery of the room, and Senator Chris Murphy accompanied Booker throughout his speech. Murphy returned the camaraderie that Booker had given him in 2016 when the Connecticut Democrat held the ground for almost 15 hours to plead for legislation on the control of firearms.

The file of the longest individual speech belongs to Strom Thurmond de Caroline du Sud, which obstructed for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the civil rights law of 1957, according to the Senate files. While he exceeded 18 hours, Booker’s speech was the sixth longer in the history of the Senate.

Only one other in -office spoke longer. In 2013, Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, speaks for 21 hours and 19 minutes to contest the affordable care law.

Booker invoked Thurmond and the chief of civil rights John Lewis of Georgia on Tuesday morning, arguing that the change in history would force the public to get involved.

“You think we had civil rights one day because Strom Thurmond – after having obstructed for 24 hours – you think we had civil rights because he came to the ground one day and said:” I saw the light “,” said Booker. “No, we have had civil rights because people walked for that, sweat and John Lewis bled for that.”

Booker’s speech was not a filibustier, which is a discourse intended to stop the advance of specific legislation. Instead, Booker’s performance was a broader criticism of Trump’s agenda, intended to maintain the affairs of the Senate and to draw attention to what the Democrats do to challenge the president. Without a majority in one or the other Congress Chamber, the Democrats were almost completely locked up from the legislative power, but turn to procedural maneuvers in an attempt to thwart the Republicans.

Booker is serving his second term in the Senate. He was an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2020 when he launched his campaign from the stages of his home in Newark. He abandoned after having struggled to take a foothold in a crowded field, not to be a threshold to meet in a debate in January 2020.

But while Democrats are looking for a next generation of leadership, frustrated by the elders at the top, Booker’s speech could consolidate its first -rate figure status in the party’s opposition to Trump.

Before even going to the national political scene, Booker was considered a rising star of the Democratic Party of New Jersey, as mayor of Newark, the largest city in the State, from 2006 to 2013.

During the college, he played a tight side for the University of Stanford football team. He became an Rhodes scholarship holder and graduated from Yale Law before starting his career as a lawyer for non -profit organizations.

He was elected for the first time in the American Senate in 2013 in a special election held after the death of the outgoing Democrat Frank Lautenberg. He won his first full mandate in 2014 and re -election in 2020.