With some small breaks and interruptions, the democratic senator for the New Jersey Booker beat the longest record pronounced in the history of the Senate of the United States on Thursday. The previous record dated 1957, when Strom Thurmond He was speaking for 24 hours and 18 minutes to oppose the civil rights law. Booker held his speech as Gesture of opposition to Donald Trump’s policies in his second term as President of the United States.
Booker, 55 years old and a former footballer, could not go to the bathroom all the time of his speech. He had two glasses of water in front. To respect the rules of the Senate, he had to stay standing. For hours he was talking to a lectern, from which he separated at all times to take a few steps, but in which he also supported himself from time to time. He wore a wireless microphone.
Yes, he had small breaths to listen to the questions of his teammates, even if he clarified that he did not give them the floor, that he would conclude his speech. He started his speech on Monday when he got dark, he spent all night talking in the hemicycle and 24 hours later he continued with energy to beat the record. His gesture is A way to demonstrate that democrats are still there, even if they look a little depressed After the hard defeat of November 5th.
When the record approached and the nerves emerged, Booker was reported The Thurmond brand, which, as he pointed out, has a room dedicated to the Capitol. “Maybe my ego was too taken away from the idea that if I had planted me here, perhaps, only, only, I could have beat this record, that of the man who tried to stop the rights I defend. However, I am not here for his speech. I am here despite his speech. I am here because, no matter how powerful it was, people were more powerful,” he said in that part of his speech.
Booker openly recognized being a descendant at the same time of slaves and slaves. The senator invoked John Lewis, leader of the civil rights of Georgia and shortly thereafter, received a note, looked at his mobile phone and listened to you? “He said while his companions dedicated a long ovation.
During his 24 hours and 18 minutes since 1957, Thurmond It was used to read the electoral laws of the 50 States. At that time, a senator could prolong his speech everything he wanted to prevent a problem from voting. That practice was immortalized by James Stewart, in his 1939 film Mr. Smith goes to Washington (Knight without sword). There were other memorable real episodes of Philibusterism, such as the 1935 speech of 15 and a half hours of Huey for a long time to try to block the New Deal process, in which he resorted to reading the fragments of the recent Louisiana, such as fried oysters.
Filibusterism is no longer what it was. Republicans and democrats have agreed to bury the practical dysfunction with a strengthened majority. The rules of the Senate now allow the debate on a question of ending and undergoing elaboration when 60 senators vote in favor. Filibusterism has therefore become active, on the basis of speeches, liabilities: 41 votes are sufficient to block most of the invoices.
Therefore, Booker has not tried to block the elaboration of any law, but to attract attention. The senator asked his party to do self -criticism: “We all have to look at the mirror and say: ‘We will do better.” “These are not normal times in our nation,” Booker said at the beginning of Monday evening speech, says Associated Press. “And they should not be treated as such in the Senate of the United States. The threats to the American people and on American democracy are serious and urgent, and we must all do more to face them,” he added.
Senator Rave for hours against Cuts from the Elon Musk government efficiency department and read the electoral letters, including some who have warned the risk of An “imminent constitutional crisis”.
Booker’s cousin and brother, as well as the democratic assistants, observed from the Chamber Gallery. Senator Chris Murphy accompanied Booker to the Senate throughout the day and night, corresponding to the solidarity that Booker had given him in 2016, when the Connecticut Democrat maintained the use of the word for almost 15 hours to defend the armament control legislation.
Before beating Thurmond’s record, Booker He exceeded 21 hours and 19 minutes that the Republican Senator of Texas Ted Cruz used To oppose the assistance law at affordable prices in 2013, the longest speech of a fiscal senator. The republican senator took him with sportiness and a sense of humor. “While Cory Booker approaches my 21 -hour obstructionism record, I am thinking of activating the fire alarm”, He joked first with an image that became famous in the last legislature for an accident in the room of representatives. So when he lost the record, He tweeted a Homer Simpson meme.
