Cory Booker 'Filibuster' Live: Senate Floor Speech Passes 12 Hours
By Sophie Clark
Democrat Cory Booker's marathon Senate floor speech, in which he is largely criticizing the Trump administration's policies and spending cuts, has just passed the 12-hour mark.
The U.S. Senator from New Jersey has held the floor since about 7 p.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'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 speech clips in the video above, and follow live footage and text updates below.
1 min ago
07:35 AM EDT
Senator Murphy Shares Message Outside Senate Chamber
Conneticut Senator Murphy plans to stay with Booker throughout, he says, acknowledging he's helped him break "with some long questions."
He is returning the favor. Senator Booker joined Murphy during his filibuster demanding action on gun violence 9 years ago.
4:45am outside the Senate chamber. @CoryBooker about to begin hour 11 of his filibuster to protest Trump’s Medicaid cuts, corruption and lawlessness.
Been proud to be his wingman throughout. I’m here until he decides to sit down. pic.twitter.com/DcGNI3k72f
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 1, 2025
07:29 AM EDT
Senator's Morning Alarm Goes off
Peter Welch, the U.S. Senator from Vermont, is also here.
His morning alarm just went off. "For those of us who do not stay up all night, some of us use an alarm to wake up," he quipped.
Asking Booker a question (and offering him chance for a break), the 77-year-old discusses how the Senate "had the till to make enormous progress" with the bipartisan immigration act but did not pass it in May.
The bill, which addressed border security, did not secure enough votes in the U.S. House after Donald Trump during campaign season called for Republicans to reject it.
07:19 AM EDT
Most American's Support DOGE Cuts, New Poll Suggests
As we've been hearing, Senator Booker has criticized Trump administration spending cuts and how they have been deployed.
The administration has been proposing cuts to federal funding in a bid to reshape the U.S. government, improve efficiency and at times to solicit change.
The effort, led by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), maintains the support of American voters, accoring to a new Harvard-Harris poll.
Asked "Do you support or oppose the goal of cutting $1 trillion of government expenditures?" Seven in 10 (68 percent) respondents said "yes."
Both Republicans (88%) and Democrats (52%) agreed overall.
The poll conducted March 26 and 27 reported a margin of error of +/- 1.9 pts on a 95 percent confidence level.
07:10 AM EDT
Cory Booker's marathon Senate speech passes 12-hour mark
We have just passed 7 a.m. and Booker is still going, which means the New Jersey Senator has now been talking on the Senate floor for more than 12 hours.
As he passed the mark, Booker said eroding constitutional norms "does not keep Americans safer."
"I am most concerned about the future and the potential implications of the insurrection act...and the Alien Enemies Act...Disappearing people without due process as Justice Scalia says is wrong," Booker said on the floor.
06:54 AM EDT
How Is Booker Speaking for This Long?
Documents are certainly helping.
The New Jersey Senator is reading directly from articles, court documents, personal testimonies, and think-tank pieces to maintain his pacing.
A short while ago, he read the testimony of Canadian woman Jasmine Mooney, an actress who appeared in American Pie, about her experience in ICE detention.
In the past few hours he has read interviews with Antonin Scalia, the conservative Supreme Court Justice, who said that all people within the U.S. are granted due process, pieces by the CATO Institute on immigration in the US, articles on the planes sent to El Salvador, and court documents for the suit against the Trump Administration's move to send people to El Salvador without due process.
Senator Booker is also speaking without reading for large periods.
Cory Booker
Senator Booker reads The Atlantic's report on Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who in 2019 was granted protected status by an immigration judge, who was deported to El Salvador under the Trump administration.... More
06:37 AM EDT
Democrats React—'This Moment Is Not Normal'
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."
Jasmine Crocket, the U.S. House Representative from Texas, also posted her thanks to Booker.
06:32 AM EDT
A Question (and Respite!)
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
What Cory Booker Has Said
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
Is Cory Booker Still Speaking—and Why?
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."
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