Democratic senator Cory Booker holds marathon speech to highlight ‘recklessness’ of Trump policies
Senator Cory Booker has been giving a marathon speech on the Senate floor that has lasted into the early hours of Tuesday morning, highlighting what he described as the “recklessness” of the Trump administration.
The New Jersey Democrat began his address on Monday night and said he would continue to speak for as long as he could “physically endure”. By 7.30am ET, Booker was still going.
The focus of his remarks are concerns over president Trump’s proposed cuts to programs like Medicaid.
At the start of his speech, Booker said:
I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able. I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our nation is in crisis.
He went on:
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.
These are not normal times in America, and they should not be treated as such.
Key events
Senator Cory Booker thanked his Minnesota colleague Tina Smith for her question, saying she “weighs into some difficult waters”. He said he had read “horrible stories, painful stories” about people “trapped” in the immigration system that were a “betrayal of American values”.
Booker said the Trump administration was “violating the very first words” of the constitution. He said:
[Donald Trump] wants to take power from our Congress. And the thing that is killing me, that is actually breaking my heart, is that we’re letting him take our power.
On the subject of foreign policy, Booker said Trump had left US allies feeling “abandoned”, “degraded” and “insulted” while leaving its adversaries “emboldened”.
In the short time President Trump has been in office for his second term, Americans have already been put in harm’s way because of the reckless approach of the administration.
