Democrat Cory Booker is holding a marathon Senate floor speech, largely criticizing Trump administration policies and spending cuts.
The U.S. Senator from New Jersey has held the floor since about 7 a.m. ET on Monday, pausing only to take questions—and a breath—from Democrat allies.
He has so far largely targeted spending cuts, including efforts to dismantle the Department of Education, and the need for greater bipartizanship in Congress.
The 55-year-old has vowed to keep going “as long as I am physically able.”
“[Booker is] about to begin hour 11 of his filibuster to protest Trump’s Medicaid cuts, corruption and lawlessness,” Chris Murphy, the Democrat Senator from Connecticut who joined Booker on the floor, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Been proud to be his wingman throughout.”
Booker’s speech is not a filibuster because it is not blocking legislation or a nomination.
The New Jesey Senator is part of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s campaign strategy to focus on kitchen-table issues, including federal spending cuts, ahead of next year’s midterms.
Watch the speech live in the video above and follow text updates below.
06:37 AM EDT Andy Kim, Booker’s fellow U.S. Senator from New Jersey, has responded to the ongoing speech, saying “This moment is not normal. We can’t treat it like it is.”
This moment is not normal. We can’t treat it like it is.
For so many in NJ watching, we thank @SenBooker as he does the remarkable for our state and country, and continues to hold the Senate floor through the night. pic.twitter.com/N9iwxl9dxA
— Senator Andy Kim’s Office (@SenatorAndyKim) April 1, 2025
Jasmine Crocket, the U.S. House Representative from Texas, also posted her thanks to Booker.
06:32 AM EDT A little earlier, Booker took questions and statements by Senator Chris Murphy, the Democrat from Connecticut, who is joining him on the Senate floor.
Senator Murphy warns the Trump administration’s threat of cuts to the National Institutes of Health and universities risk damaging “the knowledge economy.”
Columbia university agreed concession—including creating an internal security force and banning face masks—after being threatened to the Trump administration refused otherwise to consider restoring $400 million in federal funds.
Murphy said: “Once those centers of research excellence are outside of the United States it’s not like the next President can come in and fix it. That remains a permanent liability for us … A second ago I thought we all agreed that we need to support the knowledge economy.”
Murphy suggested there was a hidden agenda behind the cuts, including privatising Social Security.
It was tricky to catch his actual question but put the idea to Booker: “If you believe as Donald Trump does that all politics are zero sum, anything the Democrats are for by definition must be bad for America.”
06:13 AM EDT In the last hour or so, Senator Booker has:
- Railed against funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health
- Called out efforts to remove visas from international students and deport others
- Questioned the banning of certain books from school libraries.
- Shared concerns from the LGBTQ community, reading out loud a letter from his consitutent who works in the Church: “As a faith leader and your constituent I am deeply concerned about the treatment of LGBTQ people and immigrants by this administration. The demonization and marginalization of these groups is un christian and deeply offensive to the values of my faith.”
- Shifted focus to immigration from about 10 hours into his speech
- Lampooned the Trump Administration’s admission it mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia, a man known to federal immigration agents as someone who was protected status in the U.S., to El Salvador and can now no longer bring him back to the US.
- Warned “people will be traumatized by this,” adding: “Even if you think the admin immigration agenda doesn’t apply to you please know the reckless decisions we’re seeing erodes everyone’s rights … Denying due process is a slippery slope. If people can be detained and deported without a hearing, detained and deported without due process, nothing will stop them from making mistakes with an American.”
- 05:55 AM EDT U.S. Senator Cory Booker has entered his 11th hour of his Senate speech, criticizing the Trump Administration.
- The New Jersey Democrat has broken his speech up into several topics, and brought a large binder with him to the Senate to assist.
- He is now discussing immigration enforcement, and the Trump Administration’s failure to provide due process to people sent to El Salvador. They were accused of being gang members, arrested and sent overseas without evidence.
- Booker said before he began: “I’m heading to the Senate floor because Donald Trump and Elon Musk have shown a complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution, and the needs of the American people.”
