Summary
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) broke the record for longest Senate floor speech at 25 hours and 5 minutes, surpassing the 24-hour, 18-minute filibuster by former Sen. Strom Thurmond, who opposed the 1957 Civil Rights Act.
Booker said it “irked” him that Thurmond’s record symbolized efforts to block civil rights.
He used the speech to protest potential GOP spending cuts and Trump-era policies.
Supported by fellow Democrats, Booker remained standing and speaking for over a day, calling his action a symbolic reclaiming of the Senate’s legacy.
First of all, it delayed the vote to cut Medicaid. Even if just by a day, it means that someone’s grandma may get coverage for oxygen that would have been cut a day earlier. Second, it shows that Democrats are willing and able to fight. The Senate can’t vote until discussion ends. Cory wasn’t just delaying the Medicaid vote, he was delaying every single item on the agenda after that. It sends a strong signal; come back and work with us on legislation, or don’t come back at all. Another thing to remember is that it takes 3/5ths of the present members to break the filibuster. Cory being able to go that long without being procedurally cut short also sends a clear message of unity, republicans couldn’t break the filibuster.
Edit: oh, and to top it off, Trump’s public address for yesterday got like 20k views total. The single stream that I was in for Cory’s filibuster got over 150k peak views. Trump has got to be pissed about that.
I heard some views got a half a million… and more.
Some have said it was the most viewed political broadcast in history. People are saying it. Many people.