1 day Ago By BBC
US Senator Cory Booker has broken the record for the longest speech ever delivered in the Senate. The New Jersey politician took to the floor on Monday evening and was still going more than 24 hours later. Booker, a Democrat, has spent his time criticising the Trump administration, calling it a "grave and urgent" moment in American history.
The previous record was held by Republican Senator Strom Thurmond, who spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against civil rights legislation in 1957. "I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able," Booker said at the beginning of his marathon speech at around 19:00 local time on Tuesday evening. "I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our nation is in crisis.
" Although Booker's speech was not a filibuster, a speech designed to obstruct passage of a bill, it held up legislative business in the Senate on Tuesday. The 55-year-old, who is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the chamber, filled some of the time reading letters from constituents, who said they had been harmed by President Donald Trump's policies. "I, first amongst us all, really love to speak," he joked less than an hour before breaking the record.
As well as outlasting Thurmond's address 68 years ago, it is the longest speech seen in the Senate since a 21-hour filibuster in 2013 by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, against Obamacare..
