Democrat Cory Booker sets Senate 25-hour speech record, protests Trump actions

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker held the Senate floor with a marathon speech that lasted 25 hours and 5 minutes, setting the record for the longest continuous Senate floor speech in the chamber’s history. His feat of endurance was aimed at showing Democrats’ resistance to President Donald Trump’s sweeping actions.

Booker broke a record previously held by Strom Thurmond, a segregationist who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, according to the Senate’s records.

Meanwhile, Trump is promising to roll out a set of tariffs, or taxes on imports from other countries, on April 2 that he says will free the US from a reliance on foreign goods. To do this, Trump has said he’ll impose “reciprocal” tariffs to match the duties that other countries charge on US products.

Earlier Tuesday, employees across the massive US Health and Human Services Department began receiving notices of dismissal in an overhaul ultimately expected to lay off up to 10,000 people.