WashingtonSen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., made a rare and vehement appearance on the Senate floor this week, accusing fellow Democrats of aiding President Donald Trump and warning that the party must wake up.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat from Nevada, started the dispute on July 29 when she tried to expedite a set of bipartisan proposals that would increase money and support for police departments. In response, Booker offered an amendment requiring the government to disburse public safety funding impartially.
Cortez Masto immediately criticized that action, claiming that Booker had plenty of time to voice his concerns when the legislation were approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Booker is a member of. This is absurd. She claimed that this was an attempt to kill all of these bills.
Booker responded without holding back. According to him, this is the issue facing Democrats in America at the moment. Since we currently have all the power, we are willing to work with Donald Trump to allow this to happen.
As Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., intervened and questioned Booker’s strategy, the discussion became increasingly heated. She said that a bill shouldn’t be held on the floor while other financing priorities are pursued after it passes committee. Booker resisted, arguing that his supporters valued the police bills greatly and that they shouldn’t be written off as less significant.
I’m sick of the Democratic Party doing nothing when the president of the United States of America breaches the Constitution and shatters our customs and traditions. He spoke with passion. Observe? Let him? Ask for scraps?
The Democratic Party needs a wake-up call, Booker cautioned.
Particularly after the party’s loss in the 2024 election, Democrats are still at odds about how to best oppose Trump and offset the impact of MAGA populism. Booker and other progressive politicians have called for more loud and forceful opposition to the Trump administration.
“We deserve to lose if we don’t stand as Democrats,” Booker stated. However, we will prevail if we stand together, if we stand firm, if we stand with others, if we declare, in unison, that America and what this administration is doing is wrong, if we stand up and say that, dear God.
This is not the first time Booker has delivered a scathing rebuke on the Senate floor. He delivered a 25-hour, five-minute address in April criticizing the policies of the Trump administration, saying: These are not normal times in America, and they should not be treated as such.
