Murkowski congratulates Booker on his “historical feat” after his marathon speech

Moderate Republican Lisa Merkowski (R-Alaska) congratulated her colleague, Sen. Cory Booker (DN.J.), setting a new record for Tuesday’s longest speech in the Senate.

“Whether you agree with him or not, over the past 24 hours, most people think that fillibuster’s truth is,” Merkowski wrote in an article on X shortly after Booker set his record.

She added: “Congratulations to @Senbooker for his historical feat (stand up at the same time!).

Booker, the fourth Democrat in the Senate, spoke on the floor at 7 p.m. Monday for 25 hours and 5 minutes before finally surrendering at 8:05 p.m. Tuesday.

He set a new record for the longest speech in Senate history, a record of 24 hours and 18 minutes held by former Senator Strom Thurmond (RSS.C.), who protested the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Booker used his marathon speech to condemn potential Republican spending cuts to its imminent tax bill and policies laid out by the Trump administration.

Throughout the speech, Booker was asked to remain consistent and was prohibited from leaving the table. According to Sen. Chris Murphy, a New Jersey Democrat had a Senate page that took his chair away, so he didn’t want to sit down during his speech.

Booker was helped by dozens of Democratic colleagues who showed up on the floor to ask him questions, some talking alone for a few minutes to temporarily relieve the burden.

He also paused his speech at noon Tuesday to allow the Senate to hold an opening prayer and rested at noon Tuesday. Senate pastor Barry Black specifically mentioned Senate staff, Capitol police, stenographers and pages “all night” and thanked them for their work.

But Booker talked a lot throughout the process, announcing that he was ready to “stand here as much as possible.”

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