Booker’s Senate floor speech has extended to 15 hours
Oliver Millman
The Senator warned of what the Senator’s overnight speech on the floor, which began last night at 7pm and is still happening, but what Donald Trump’s administration called the “grave and urgent” that brings to democracy and Americans.
Booker has condemned the Trump administration’s spending cuts, attempts to abolish the Department of Education, the president’s attempts to bypass the judicial system, and the removal of people from the United States against the administration.
Booker’s speech is supported by quotes from speeches by late American politicians John McCain and John Lewis, as well as excerpts from newspaper articles.
Senator Cory Booker, DN.J. I will speak on the Senate floor on Tuesday morning, April 1st, 2025. Photo: Apshare
Updated with 10.16 EDT
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Oliver Millman
Several fellow Democrats of Senator Cory Booker helped him support in his monologues.
Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democratic minority, was the first to ask his New Jersey colleagues a question, and he praised Booker for his “strength and belief.”
“You will cultivate all these inequality that hurt people tonight and hurt the middle class.
Give us a little bit of strength – give us a little sense of strength and confidence that will drive you for a long time, to let people know how bad these things can be.
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Booker’s Senate floor speech has extended to 15 hours
Oliver Millman
The Senator warned of what the Senator’s overnight speech on the floor, which began last night at 7pm and is still happening, but what Donald Trump’s administration called the “grave and urgent” that brings to democracy and Americans.
Booker has condemned the Trump administration’s spending cuts, attempts to abolish the Department of Education, the president’s attempts to bypass the judicial system, and the removal of people from the United States against the administration.
Booker’s speech is supported by quotes from speeches by late American politicians John McCain and John Lewis, as well as excerpts from newspaper articles.
Senator Cory Booker, DN.J. I will speak on the Senate floor on Tuesday morning, April 1st, 2025. Photo: Apshare
Updated with 10.16 EDT
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, said Corey Booker is “giving people hope,” and her colleagues are “the alarm clock in this country right now.”
“We’ve seen people realize that this isn’t a bundle of rhetoric in the campaign going on,” Klobuchar said as Booker handed off questions on the Senate floor.
People are stepping up. They’re fighting it in court. They’re fighting it in Congress.
She praised Senator Booker for “standing in a snowstorm.” “You’re the kind of person who empowers me,” she said.
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Sen. Rafael Warnock described his Democratic colleague Cory Booker as “very proud” for his marathon speech on the Senate floor.
Warnock, who speaks to Booker succumbing to the question, said he fought to expand Medicaid in his state of Georgia. The Trump administration is not working for the average people, he said.
The administration works for billionaires. They work for people like Elon Musk.
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Sen. Cory Booker asked Minnesota colleague Tina Smith, who said “it weighs heavily on difficult oceans.” He said he read “terrifying, painful stories” about people “confined” in the immigration system, which is “betrayal of American values.”
Booker said the Trump administration “violates the first words” of the constitution. He said:
[Donald Trump] I want to gain power from our Congress. And what’s killing me is actually breaking my heart.
On the subject of foreign policy, Booker said Trump leaves us feeling that allies “abandoned”, “deteriorated” or “shamed.”
President Trump was briefly in his second term, but Americans have already been harmed by the administration’s reckless approach.
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Sen. Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, accused Donald Trump of using the immigration system of “as a tool to limit freedom of the First Amendment, destroy the due process and further weaken America’s global position.”
Smith, who has given away questions on the Senate floor, said Trump is “seeking to emulate an authoritarian regime that he is very openly admiring.”
She has focused on the number of international students who have targeted arrests and deportation in recent weeks to participate in pro-Palestine protests.
“These are young people who play with all the rules,” Smith said.
While their views on the war in Gaza may differ significantly from mine and others, I believe that I will assure them that they have the right to express those views without facing punishment or retaliation from our government.
She said the arrests were made in a way that “probably calculated to maximize the fear and threats of the immigrant and activist community.” Smith said:
Does punishing people for their political speech seem to be consistent with American democratic values? can’t believe it.
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Sen. Cory Booker, who has been on the senator’s floor marathon speech more than 13 hours ago, has accused the Trump administration and Republicans of “adding benefits to the people.” Booker said:
They smoke Medicaid and Medicare, programs that nearly a third of our country relies on.
Booker also stated that Social Security is not only “not the money spent by government,” but also “the hard-earned savings of working Americans who belong to Americans,” adding:
[Donald] With Trump [Elon] Musk needs to let go of money that is not his own.
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Staff from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have begun receiving notifications that their work has been cut, Reuters reports.
The news agency reports, citing an FDA employee, that staff had to show badges at the entrance to the building on Tuesday morning, and those fired were given tickets and told to go home.
CDC’s fired staff said they worked for the National Environmental Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA) and the National Center for Immunity and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD).
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Updated to 09.39 EDT
Massive layoffs begin with federal health agencies
Some federal health agency employees began receiving notifications of their layoffs Tuesday morning, according to a report a few days after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it had planned to cut 10,000 full-time jobs.
An email obtained by CNN to a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employee reads:
This action is not directly reflected in service, performance, or behavior.
The email says the person will be placed on administrative leave and will no longer be able to access the building as of Tuesday, the outlet reports.
HHS Director Robert F. Kennedy has announced planned cuts through the agency as part of the cleaning agency in the department responsible for tracking health trends and disease outbreaks, conducting and funding medical research, monitoring food and medical safety, and managing health insurance programs in half the country.
According to the press, the layoffs reduced the HHS to 62,000 positions, with nearly a quarter of staff and 10,000 jobs, and 10,000 workers taking 10,000 workers and another 10,000 workers.
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Updated to 08.29 EDT
Eric Burger
Right-wing groups around the US are pushing for laws that place new restrictions on books allowed in school libraries in a move that critics denounce it as critics focus on LGBTQ+ issues and on race or impose conservative social values.
It is classics like The Color Purple and Slaughterhouse-Five that have been caught up in attempts to suppress the book.
Opponents of such bills argue that they would in fact hinder individual rights as supporters impose their beliefs on parents and children who do not share their views. Those campaigning for restrictions say it will prevent children from being exposed to sexually explicit and indecent labels and boost parental rights.
According to the American Library Association, at least 112 state bills have been proposed for schools and public libraries that seek to expand the definition of what is considered obscene or “harmful to minors” and limit the ability to determine books in librarian staff’s collections.
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Updated to 08.42 EDT
Democrat Sen. Corey Booker holds a marathon speech to highlight the “recklessness” of Trump’s policy
Senator Cory Booker gave a marathon speech on the Senate floor, which continued early Tuesday morning, highlighting what he described as “recklessness” in the Trump administration.
The New Jersey Democrat began his speech Monday night, saying he would continue to speak as long as he could “physically endure.” By 7:30am, Booker was still on the way.
The focus of his remarks is concerns over President Trump’s proposed cuts to programs like Medicaid.
At the beginning of his speech, Booker said:
As long as I’m physically capable, I’m standing up with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the US Senate. I’m going to wake up tonight because I sincerely believe that our country is in crisis.
He continued:
In just 71 days, the US President has done a great deal of harm to the security of Americans, financial stability, the central foundation of democracy, and even the desires of people from our best offices.
These are not the norm in America and should not be treated that way.
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Updated to 07.48 EDT
