‘Our Constituents Are Asking Us To Acknowledge That This Is A Crisis’
As Booker breaks record with floor speech, Democrats finally show signs of fighting
From Sen Cory Booker’s electrifying marathon speech on the floor of the US Senate, to a new “war room” to defend social security, Democrats suddenly — finally — have begun to show some fight against the sweeping disruption and dismantling of the federal government under Donald Trump and his billionaire donor, Elon Musk.
It was just days ago that rank-and-file Democrats across the United States were complaining loudly that their Democratic elected representatives on Capitol Hill weren’t hardly doing enough to fight back against the authoritarianism and agenda of the Trump administration.
That anger reached a boiling point when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) caved into Republican pressure and helped pass a draconian Republican spending measure to keep open the federal government.
He was criticized for cooperating with Trump and the Republicans while giving up the leverage of a government shutdown.
And then a funny thing happened out of the blue: Democrats actually began to show signs of fighting back.
Most notably, Sen Cory Booker (D-NJ) electrified much of the nation by speaking non- stop for more than 24 hours straight.
“I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the US Senate for as long as I am physically able,” he began. “Our constituents are asking us to acknowledge that this is a crisis. I’m going to stand here until I no longer can.”
Booker then held forth for more than a full day on all of the kinds of harm Trump and Musk are doing to the nation.
And it didn’t go unrecognized that Booker, a Black man, broke the speaking record set decades ago by Sen Strom Thurmond, of South Carolina, who set his record in 1957 actually arguing against civil rights.
“I’m not here because of his speech. I’m here in spite of his speech,” Booker said.
Schumer interrupted to ask, “Do you know how proud this caucus is of you? Do you know how proud America is of you?”
“Did I know? I know now,” Booker replied, after an ovation.
While Booker certainly held the limelight and the nation’s imagination, other Democrats seemed to be growing more of a spine to fight, as well.
Sens Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, and Ron Wyden of Oregon, led a group of Democrats Tuesday to create a “war room” to defend Social Security from the cuts and disinformation Musk and his team have been spreading about the nearly century-old program that sends checks to more than 70 million Americans. (Full disclosure: The author of this article receives Social Security benefits.)
“They are trying to rip away those Social Security checks, so they can help fund tax breaks for billionaires. That seems fair to them,” Warren said during a press conference. “Social Security is not charity. It is not some giveaway. Social Security is something that people earned by paying into it for all of all their working years. It’s a sacred promise that — if you pay into the system — when you retire you can count on these benefits.”
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