Happening now:
#NJ #Democrat #CoryBooker is delivering a #filibuster in the #Senate
For nonAmericans, it simply means you block all business as long as you can speak
He started at 7 PM Monday, and spoke through the night, and is still going as of 1 PM today
We need *a lot* more than that but it's a start
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/01/nx-s1-5347318/cory-booker-senate-speech
livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2utlMxAwtE
edit: it's not even a filler filibuster, where you read the dictionary or something empty, he's still on point the whole speech
addendum:
if you tune in you can see other speakers from the floor chiming in
these are other democrats helping cory out by giving him a small break, it's just using a quirk of the rules
congress has byzantine rules about how long someone can speak, who can respond, how long they can respond, etc, so it becomes a game
@benroyce
Ben, perhaps you can help this Canadian understand something (although I do feel I know more than the average American about how their government functions).
I recall hearing for decades about this ability for a single Senator to put a hold on a specific thing and "there's nothing that can be done about it". (more like they wouldn't do something).
I understood this as some rule that effectively was a virtual filibuster.
Is that the case and if so, why is he doing a real one?
Because there's byzantine rules about a real speaking filibuster and the virtual filibuster you refer to. It evolved historically when someone merely threatened to give a real filibuster and this was respected under some "gentleman's agreement" bullshit as if it was a real filibuster, and that continues to be the case today, and has been used by the GOP to obstruct a lot
https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2021-06-17/ask-civics-101-why-do-we-have-a-no-talk-filibuster-rule
@benroyce Ok, that all jives with what my understanding of it was.
I'm also aware that the GOP used it often and without shame and I think the Dems used it sparingly and with shame. It sounds like destroying the virtual filibuster by changing rule 22 is the "nuclear option" that is so often discussed.
So do you think that Sen Booker is doing a real one for publicity or to shame other Dems about not having used it as viciously on the existential threats of Trump (Schumer's not being willing...
@virtuous_sloth also keep in mind that activities on the Senate floor tend to be pretty highly scripted. It's rare that anything happens that hasn't been already agreed to back in senators' offices.
Every once in awhile there will be uncertainty, but in general you even have senators from opposing parties getting together to write out the debates that they will deliver "against" each other. It's mostly for show as each Senator tries to score points in their own constituencies.
It's just natural, but we need to be aware that what we're watching is something of a pantomime.
