Senator Cory Booker gave a marathon all-night speech on the Senate floor that stretched into Tuesday morning, in an effort to put a spotlight on what he called a “crisis” facing the United States because of the Trump administration’s “recklessness.”
Mr. Booker, the New Jersey Democrat, began speaking at 7 p.m. on Monday, according to news reports, and was still addressing the chamber, which was largely empty, as of 8 a.m. Eastern.
The speech appeared to be part of an attempt by Democrats to retake the initiative and more assertively oppose President Trump. The senator divided his remarks into sections focused on an aspect of the administration’s policies, including on health care, education, immigration and national security.
He assailed what he said were Mr. Trump’s plans to cut funding for Medicaid, among other programs. The White House has denied that it plans to cut Medicaid benefits, but the president and his allies have attacked Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security over what they claim is waste, fraud and abuse.
“I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able,” Mr. Booker said near the start of his speech. “I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our nation is in crisis.”
As dawn broke, Mr. Booker, a former presidential candidate, was still going. “I’m rip-roaring and ready,” he said. “I’m wide awake. I’m going to stand here for as many hours as I can.”
Standing at a lectern, and often speaking in a booming voice, he paused several times to allow questions from fellow Democrats, including Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, without formally relinquishing the floor.
The speech was not a filibuster — a procedural tactic that has been used to block legislation on many issues, including civil rights — because it did not come during a debate over a specific bill or nominee. But it could still disrupt official business if it continues past noon, when the Senate was scheduled to convene.
Before his speech, Mr. Booker said on social media that he was heading to the Senate floor because Mr. Trump and Elon Musk, the billionaire who is one of the president’s top advisers, had shown what he called “a complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution and the needs of the American people.”
“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 and even our aspirations as a people for — from our highest offices — a sense of common decency,” Mr. Booker said in his speech. “These are not normal times in America, and they should not be treated as such.”
Mr. Musk’s feed on X, his social media platform, was active late into the night, but it made no mention of Mr. Booker or his all-night speech. Neither did Mr. Trump’s Truth Social feed.
As viewers followed along on Mr. Booker’s official YouTube channel, he quoted from celebrated speeches by Representative John Lewis and Senator John McCain, both of whom have died. At one point, he spent around 30 minutes reading an account by a Canadian citizen, Jasmine Mooney, about her detention in the United States by immigration enforcement officers.
Despite the speech’s length, it was not close to making Senate history.
Since 1915, many of the 48 all-night sessions in the chamber — defined as those lasting past 4 a.m. — have gone well over 24 hours. Senator Ted Cruz’s verbal assault on President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act in 2013 lasted 21 hours and 19 minutes.
Of those 48 sessions, the longest by far was a 1960 debate over a civil-rights bill that lasted 125 hours and 16 minutes. There was one 15-minute recess.
