🌅 Record-Breaking Senate Speech (But Don't Call It a Filibuster)

SOURCE

PBS NewsHour on YouTube

WHAT TO KNOW

• Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) yielded the Senate floor Tuesday evening after a record-breaking speech intended to draw attention to what he described as a nation in “crisis.” Booker spoke for 25 hours and 5 minutes in total, never sitting, eating, or leaving the small square of space surrounding his desk for the duration of the speech.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The New Jersey lawmaker touched on a range of topics, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative, and the nation’s “sense of common decency.” He also emphasized Congress’s role in holding the executive branch accountable, pressing the need for a response to the Trump administration cutting funding to the VA and Department of Education.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Booker’s speech wasn’t a filibuster—since he wasn’t attempting to block or delay any legislation—but it still broke the record for the longest floor speech by a single senator. The record was previously held by Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who, as a Democrat, spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in an attempt to block the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Thurmond switched party affiliation in 1964 and retired in 2003 after a then-record 47 years in the Senate.