Cory Booker

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Good. Thank God. I yield for a question about whatever you want to ask me for, but I am retaining the floor.

Mr. BOOKER. Yes, I am aware. I said it earlier that he calls it Liberation Day, and I am not sure what he means by that because Americans will not, by this move, be liberated from high prices. They won't be liberated from watching their 401(k)s dwindle in value as the stock market goes down. They won't be liberated from the high cost of groceries. They won't be liberated from the high cost and hard availability of housing. He calls it Liberation Day, but Americans won't be liberated from crushing debt, from medical debt, from student loan debt, parents who are struggling to take care of their parents and their children who rely on Medicaid because a parent has Alzheimer's and a child has a disability and they are trying to make it all work. But yet they are shackled in fear because they see that recommended to a House Committee on Energy and Commerce was to find $880 billion of cuts to the programs that they are relying on as a lifeline to keep their family together. Who is liberated? Who is liberated by the tariffs that he is going to come and bring onto a country where half this Nation is dealing with a tough, tough economic reality, where half of the renters in this country--you and I were both local leaders. We know it is technically the definition of housing insecurity if you are paying more than a third of your income on rent. Chris Coons, you love people. You know people. You traveled Delaware. It is a much smaller State. I do say that with some little bit of twisted non-Christian arrogance from New Jersey looking down, but you know people in your State. I have been with you in your State. You are connected to your communities. So you know people that are struggling just to make ends meet. You know people that are one emergency away like a car accident or a sickness that forces them to miss a week of work and a paycheck, that that will throw their lives in financial ruin. Is this President doing his promises to make their lives better? President Trump is calling his tariffs Liberation Day. Do you think Canada feels liberated from the bully neighbor that is Donald Trump? You think Greenland feels liberated from the bullying nature? Do you think Panama feels liberated? What about universities that are cutting NIH funding, that are cutting the scientific research that will cure the diseases in the future and will alleviate suffering? They now are not allowing postdocs to come to their school. They are not hiring. They are slashing the number of engineering students that they are allowing in because they are terrified this President is menacing indirect costs. Is that liberation? Seventy-one days in--now 72 days. I ask you: Are you better off than you were 72 days ago economically? I ask that question. Ask it to your friends. Are they better off economically? Well, I don't see how they could be because prices are up. The stock market is down. The risk of recession is climbing. Consumer confidence is in the gutter. And 401(k) plans are losing value. Are you better off than you were 72 days ago under this President's leadership on the verge of his so-called Liberation Day that is going to drive prices up even more? He is doubling down on tax cuts for the rich. He wants an economy that works for him, his billionaire donors, his powerful special interests, and it is coming at the expense of working people who are struggling to get by and a lot of programs that they rely on like for their healthcare, like for their Social Security. He wants an economy where the richest people get the biggest tax cuts with the largest corporations. Heck, they may get to skip out on taxes altogether and where hard-working Americans are getting crushed by rising food prices and rising rents. This idea that that might trickle down, but we know it doesn't work. He is continuing the same reckless economic approach he used in his first term: massive tax cuts that inure mostly to the wealthy, unchecked spending, rapacious spending, big, big, big holes in our national debt, trillions of dollars in more debt, and no serious plan on how to pay for any of the things that he is doing, from Social Security to public health to the education that supports children with disabilities and scientific research, the safety nets that millions of people depend upon. Here is a New York Times: ``Trump's policies have shaken a once-solid economic outlook.'' This is from March 7. President Trump inherited an economy that was, by most conventional measures, firing on all cylinders. Wages, consumer spending and corporate profits were rising. Unemployment was low. The inflation rate, though higher than normal, was falling. Just weeks into Mr. Trump's term, the outlook is gloomier. Measures of business and consumer confidence have plunged. The stock market has been on a roller-coaster ride. Layoffs are picking up. And by the way, this is March 7. We just finished March, the worst performing quarter in years in the stock market. Back to the article: Layoffs are picking up, according to some data. And forecasters are cutting their estimates for economic growth this year, with some even predicting that the U.S. gross domestic product could shrink in the first quarter. Some commentators have gone further, arguing that the economy could be headed for a recession, a sharp rebound in inflation or even the dreaded combination of the two, ``stagflation.'' Most economists consider that unlikely, saying growth is more likely to slow than to give way to a decline. Still, the sudden deterioration in the outlook is striking, especially because it is almost entirely a result of Mr. Trump's policies and the resulting uncertainty. Tariffs, and the inevitable retaliation from trading partners, will increase prices and slow down growth. Federal job cuts will push up unemployment, and could lead government employees and contractors to pull back on spending while they wait to learn their fate. Deportations could drive up costs for industries like construction and hospitality-- And the agricultural sector-- that depend on immigrant labor. ``If the economy was starting out in quite good shape, it's probably in less good shape after what we've seen the last few weeks,'' said Donald Rissmiller, chief economist at Strategas, a research firm. The U.S. economy has repeatedly shown its resilience in recent years, and there are parts of Mr. Trump's agenda that could foster growth. Business groups have responded enthusiastically to Republican plans to cut taxes and reduce regulation. A streamlined government could, in theory, make the overall economy more productive. So far, however, the Trump administration's approach to economic policy has been characterized more by chaos--tariffs that are announced and then delayed, government workers who are fired and rehired--than by careful planning. Michael R. Strain, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute-- I know AEI well-- said Mr. Trump's policies on trade and immigration, and his slash-and-burn approach to federal job cuts, would have a damaging effect. This is a conservative think tank. ``What President Trump has proposed will not cause a recession,'' he continued. ``But it will slow economic growth. It will take money out of people's pockets. It will increase the unemployment rate. It will cost people jobs. It will make American businesses less competitive.'' That is AEI, folks. It is certainly possible for Mr. Trump's policies to come together in a way that causes a recession. His tariffs alone could shave a full percentage point off growth in gross domestic product this year, according to some economic models--enough to cut in half the 2 percent growth rate that economists expected going into this year. Many economists contend that deporting millions of immigrants--as Mr. Trump promised to do on the campaign trail last year--could be even more harmful than tariffs, given the U.S. economy's need for workers, particularly in industries like construction and health care. And the administration's push to shrink the federal government, an effort led by Elon Musk, could leave hundreds of thousands of federal workers and government contractors looking for jobs when hiring has slowed. That could set off a chain reaction: Workers who lose jobs, or worry they might, would pull back on spending, which would force businesses to cut costs, leading to more layoffs and further reductions in spending. Ordinarily, that would prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and shore up the economy. But that could be difficult if tariffs are also pushing up prices, making policymakers nervous that cutting interest rates could spur inflation. ``It's a death by a thousand paper cuts,'' said Jay Bryson, chief economist for Wells Fargo. ``All these things individually aren't enough to cause a recession, but if you layer them on top of one another, it might be.'' Most economists think such an outcome is relatively unlikely, however. Mr. Trump has repeatedly delayed full enforcement of his promised tariffs. For example, on Thursday-- This article is from March 7-- he suspended tariffs on most imports from Mexico and Canada until April. What month are we in? April. His deportation efforts have likewise gotten off to a slow start. And some of the cuts to the federal workforce have been tied up in court. As they should be. Such delays and reversals will help blunt the impact of Mr. Trump's policies, and could make a recession less likely, at least in the short term. But the prolonged uncertainty could have its own costs, leading businesses to delay investment and hiring decisions. ``If we don't get clarity by the back half of this year, economic uncertainty can be like a deer in the headlights,'' said Nancy Lazar, chief global economist at the investment bank Piper Sandler. ``Things just stop. Business confidence is muted, employment is muted, and capital spending is put on hold.'' Even if Mr. Trump's policies don't cause a recession, they could do long-term damage. Lower immigration will leave the country with a smaller labor force as the native-born population is aging. Trade barriers will be a relatively modest drag on growth while in place--a chronic condition, rather than an acute one. ``It's less like the economy is in a car wreck, and it's more like the economy has decided to start smoking a pack a day,'' said Michael Madowitz, an economist at the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive group. In certain places and for certain groups, the consequences could be harder to ignore. Veterans, who make up a disproportionate share of federal workers, could be particularly hard-hit by government layoffs. So could parts of the country that depend heavily on federal jobs: Already, there are signs that home prices in the Washington metropolitan area are falling. ``It's going to be substantial for certain communities.'' ``When you look at the aggregate,'' it is going to be challenging.

Mr. BOOKER. I talked or texted with this person who asked me to yield the floor. I have been letting this power go to my head. I have never in the Senate had the ability to hold the floor and leave the person in a little bit of limbo. I just want to say that Tim Kaine is one of the friends. Honestly, he is more like a pastor to me. He is one of the more honorable men I have met in my life and struggles, like me, about faith and public service. I read your book. I really hope more people read your book. I didn't think it was going to be as beautiful as it was. I laughed, I wept. When you were attacked by spiders and things like that, I am sorry, I was laughing at your misfortune, sir. It is a book about you going through your whole State by walking the Appalachian Trail, canoeing. Every story you told moved me. It is a great book. I have read a lot of my colleagues' books, this one really touched me. You have a beautiful view of America, and I want people to read your book, I really want people to read your book. So if I should yield, I will yield only if you will tell people the name of your book and maybe tell something about it. This is extortion on the Senate floor. I am going to hold on to the floor unless you agree to that. Shake your head up and down if you agree. All right. Then, of course, to my dear friend and somebody that I probably wouldn't be standing here, we had some discussions about procedural opportunities and things like that, he had to make some concessions to me, I won't give details, but he is an honorable man, and in the crux before I came here, he really helped to clear the pathway for me to stand here now. I owe you a lot of my 12 years. You are like a big brother to me. And I yield for a question while retaining the floor.

Mr. BOOKER. God bless you.

Mr. BOOKER. Not a colloquy. That is not allowed. It was a question.

Mr. BOOKER. Wow.

Mr. BOOKER. I appreciate that. I am going to try to keep it short, but I want to reminisce with you about something that--do you remember in Trump's first term that he used a national security waiver to put tariffs on Canada then?

Mr. BOOKER. Yes. But do you remember we had a Foreign Relations Committee meeting, and a leader--I don't want to embarrass the leader, but a leader from Canada came, it was a woman, and she sat there. It was a bipartisan group together. You do remember this?

Mr. BOOKER. So she sat there, and she started very slowly going back to the War of 1812, and marched through Canadian-American history. I confess I have a degree in history, but I didn't know all this history. But amazing stories of Canadian sacrifice to stand next to Americans, to die next to Americans, to fight for America, to join our artists, our cultural communities, our agricultural communities, all the things we have done hand in hand to make both of our Nations stronger and more prosperous. And then she looked at us and said: And then your President, in a sense, called us a national security threat.

Mr. BOOKER. And you all put tariffs on us. And I remember the quiet, the silence around that committee table. I felt like, whoa, this is such an ally, such a friend, such a consistent ally of us throughout the hardest difficult times in history, never left our side. Her litany was so admirable, and then she looks at us, a national security waiver, hardships on our economy, national security waiver to put tariffs on. And they hurt Americans, and they hurt-- embarrassingly hurt our northern neighbor. But I thought that was bad enough. And now, what kind of bully are you? What kind of mean spirit do you look at your northern neighbor and say: I am going to call you Governor, not with the title you earned by the people that put you in that office. It is the worst kind of behavior. And nobody calls him out, of our Republican colleagues--not enough of them called it out, I should say. So we are in, as I read in that article, in an economic crisis. I question: How long will we wait until more of us join in a chorus to say enough is enough? I don't know the answers. I don't know how we can stop him. But I know we did in the first term. We pushed back on him successfully and on his attempts to try to take healthcare away from tens of millions of Americans, and we can do it again. But more people have to do things differently. They have to do like we have been talking about all day--and I will turn to my colleague again--as John Lewis called us: Get in good trouble, necessary trouble. Heal the soul of America. We have to do more and follow the examples of our forefathers and foremothers who never gave up, with conviction and determination, with indefatigable spirit and unyielding grace that continues, time and time again, pushing back and bending the arc. It is our turn. What are we going to do? We have to answer that question. We have to do more.

Mr. BOOKER. I yield for a question while retaining the floor.

Mr. BOOKER. I want to answer that question. I want to, at first, say Hakeem Jeffries is here. Now I am worried because two Brooklynites are shaking hands. I confess, when I had the floor and Schumer was here, it was the only time in my life I could deny him the right to speak on the Senate floor. I confess to my friend who is part of the X generation--the hip-hop generation--my brother who is part of that transition in American history from the ``greatest generation'' to baby boomers, that the baby boomers are now seeing leaders emerge that are X generation and millennials. He represents the best of the future. This question is so good--because you didn't honor your commitment to me and talk about your book. I want to say I insulted Brooklyn for stealing my Nets. I told the leader--I abused my power to retain the floor, and I told the leader there is only one football team in New York, the Buffalo Bills. The other two are in New Jersey. I should have reminded the leader that the ``Chairman of the Board,'' who sings ``New York, New York'' is actually from New Jersey. I can go on with this litany. I do want to get back to your very serious question about tyranny. I think many of us have read books like ``On Tyranny.'' We are reading articles, and people are talking about the fears that they have, fears that they have about this document. You and I have had serious conversations over the last 72 days of Donald Trump's Presidency. How much of the encroachment--I would say ``encroachment'' is a gentle word--of the separation of powers is happening? We are watching Justices, judges--from Republican appointees to Democratic appointees--trying to stop him from doing things. Which one of our great Bill of Rights amendments, from the freedom of the press--he is doing things to the press that, in my opinion, are bullying them, breaking with traditions that Presidents have done in the past; trying to create a press corps like Putin or Erdogan have, who will only let people in the room who will give obsequious supplications often for the dear leader. What about the freedom of speech? You and I both know reprehensible speech is protected. Disappearing people for what they said--Scalia talked very clearly about having rights, even when you are in the country. One of the most conservative Justices said: You have rights. We are seeing him invoke emergencies. You have been the leader in our caucus, talking about the absurdities of these emergencies he is doing. He tried to rally this body saying: Don't let this happen. You talked to me about all of these things. So what is the limit of tyranny? You and I--and we talked about this with your book. I am trying to get back there. I told you once, when Skip Gates did my history, that he traced my history back to Virginia. I tried to show you that I have more Virginia legitimacy because my roots go back to 1640 in your State. The Stampers came over, and following down, down, down, then Henrietta Stamper, who my mom still talks about as a relative. John Stamper--and with the chart that Skip Gates gave me, the only thing you could say about John Stamper is that the mother of Henrietta Stamper was ``slave woman.'' Born Henrietta Stamper, they called her on her documents ``mulatto'' and Stamper fought for her ownership because it would later come out that was his child. These are the traditions in my family. It is really amazing what Skip Gates did and showed me that I am a direct descendent of slaves and slave owners. I am a direct descendent of a Confederate soldier that was captured in retreat. I am the direct descendent of Native Americans and people who fought in the Creek war to kill Native Americans. And these traditions in our country, I draw upon all of them. I am proud of all of them. They speak us to. They speak to the complicated history of America. But perhaps one of the best things I got about this complicated history was a visit to my office by--I don't know if I told the leader this--I am sorry. I am going to return to his question. I know how busy the leader is. If the leader asks me a question--if he asks--I will yield for a question.

Mr. BOOKER. I yield for a question while retaining for the floor.

Mr. BOOKER. Chuck, I am not 100 percent right now, and you just hit me with stunning news that I can't even think about how to respond right now. I am stunned by that. I wish--if you want to ask me a question, ask me a question. I wish you would explain a little bit more because what you are basically saying to me is that we are not going to go through the Parliamentarian. This is a gimmick that is going to be done to try to break, really, what the Byrd rule requirements of reconciliation are. I am using Senate speak, and I don't think we should use that. So what they are going to try to say is obscure the impact of reconciliation. They are going to obscure this--the incredible tax cuts, the cost of trillions of dollars to our economy--blowing up our debt. So-called fiscal hawks are going to blow it up. I am stunned by this news.

Mr. BOOKER. I yield for a question while retaining the floor.

Mr. BOOKER. Yes. The answer to the question is yes. I just want to say that anything further is a breaking of the Senate. In a severe way, it is the breaking of the Senate. Every time you break the Senate like that to do another big nuclear option thing, the next time around, when the pendulum swings--I have been here for 12 years, and I have watched it swing back and forth. There is no going back now.

Mr. BOOKER. I will yield for a question while retaining the floor.

Mr. BOOKER. I hate to answer the question this way, but America will regret this day. The American people will regret this day. All of us will regret this. All of us will.

Mr. BOOKER. You cannot yield the floor because I have the floor, sir. I maintain the floor. This is one of the few times I will be able to get to tell Chuck Schumer what the rules are here. But I just want to get back to you, and maybe this is a way to get back to you by sharing a story I don't think I have ever told you. (Mr. CURTIS assumed the Chair.) It was a few years ago with one of Biden's last State of the Union speeches, and I--we all had to vote on the floor about an hour before the speech, and then we would come back here and assemble to do this extraordinary walk through history. So, days before that, I was with the leader, Hakeem, and I was with some other people in the Oval Office with the President. The President put his arm around me as we finished the meeting, and he said: Hey, Cory. And I am like: Yes, Mr. President. I have got a big speech coming up. I know, Mr. President. I am going to go to Camp David to work on it. And I said: OK, Mr. President. He goes: Can I call you if I need some help? And I said: Yes. Right, Mr. President. Sure. And that was it. Over the weekend, he didn't call me for help with his speech, and we came here and did that vote an hour before, and then--I like walking out that door. Many people know this. If I can, I go straight out the next doors and onto the steps. I love those steps-- maybe because I watched ``Schoolhouse Rock'' as a kid, and that is where there was ``Mr. Bill, I am just a bill.'' So I pause sometimes there and just feel the sense of gratitude and the Supreme Court right in front of me and the Library of Congress, and if you stand in the right place, you can see the gold dome behind you. As I am standing there in that moment an hour before we have to hustle back here, my phone rings. I answer my phone, and it begins with what I think is one of the top stupidest questions in America. You have gotten this question. I think you would agree with me. You are not the kind of guy who uses words like, ``Hey, this is stupid,'' but this is stupid. The thing I heard--the stupid question--was this: This is the White House operator. Will you hold for the President of the United States? Who says no to that question as one does when they get a call from the President of the United States? So I say: Yeah. I will hold. Hold it a minute. I am washing my hair. I say: Yes, of course. The next thing you know, it is Joe Biden, and he goes: Cory. And I go: Mr. President. He goes: I am struggling with my speech. And at that point--I know you weren't this kind of student in college, but all of my guilt from my college days of waiting until the last minute to finish a paper was gone. The President of the United States was waiting until the last minute to finish his speech. Heck, I feel good. And so he goes: Cory, can I read you a section of this speech? So he read to me a section of the speech where I have a lot of policy depth, and I couldn't believe it. The President of the United States, an hour before his speech, is rehearsing a part of the speech, and then he asks me that immortal question. You are a married man. You have to give me good advice on how to answer this question. When your spouse looks at you and says, ``How do I look?'' you are torn between two things--right?--maybe to tell the truth or to tell your spouse what they want to hear. Tell me what you answer with, but you can't do it now because I have the floor. And so I take a moment. Am I going to tell the President what I really think of this section or am I going to just say: ``Yes, Mr. Leader''? So I decided that he called me up an hour before his speech. So he really must want my advice. And I gave some hard input. Turn this dial down more. Turn this one to whatever. And he said: OK, Cory. And abruptly he is gone. I go back to the office, and I tell them: I just got a call from the President of the United States, and he asked for help on his speech. What a crazy life moment while I stood on the steps, like the bill--``I'm just a bill.'' Anyway, we get back here, and it is a wonderful moment in the Senate. I don't know if anybody has the privilege of seeing what we do. We all gaggle around those doors. We talk to each other. People think we always fight and yell. That is not the case. Democrats and Republicans merge into this ball of senatorial humanity. Then, when those doors open, I love it because, when you walk out, you walk past Thune's office--what used to be the Library of Congress. You walk past the Old Senate Chamber, where there were some of the greatest debates in American history and violence on that Senate floor with the caning of Sumner. You walk through the dome and the statue of Lincoln by an 18-year-old woman named Ream, the suffrage leaders, Martin Luther King, Presidents--extraordinary Presidents. Then you walk past where the old House used to be. And you love this, and I love this--those little gold plates on the floor where Presidents had their desks, exactly where the Presidents had their desks. Most people go in right under the Junipero Serra, California's statue. Under that cross is Lincoln's gold plate--people who were in the House and served as the President. That is not my favorite one, though. It is John Quincy Adams. Why? You know this. He was the only person in American history ever--and it will probably never happen again--where somebody went to the Presidency and came back to the House. He ran for a House seat. He worked at that spot where that desk was until he collapsed and was carried off the floor. He would soon later die. Amazing. Maybe a future President will. Maybe Obama is going to think, you know: I have got to run for the House. Then you get into that old Chamber, and we sit down; we find our seats. Then, at that great moment--I don't care if you are Republican or Democrat. When that person walks in and says, ``The President of the United States of America,'' I still get that feeling. Joe Biden comes in, and I think he sets a record for the longest it would take to get from those doors all the way down. Everybody he is talking to. ``Marjorie Taylor Greene, what's up?'' He is just touching everybody. He gets up there, and he gives his speech. Now, you know that this is an aerobic event. You stand up. You sit down. You stand up. You sit down. You have got to get your squats in when you are doing it. Well, the part of the speech he called me on is--and I am sitting down, and I hear my input in the speech. I don't know if you all noticed, my colleagues, but I was the first person to stand up for that section, and I was looking at Schatz: Get up, man. This is the best speech ever given. It was amazing. I go home. I am kind of buzzing about the whole experience, and I am lying in bed. Unfortunately, I have my phone on my nightstand, and it goes off. I see a number I don't recognize, but I open it up, and it says: Senator Booker, this is John Meacham-- The great historian. Thank you for helping the President of the United States with his speech. You made more of a difference than you will ever know. And my first thought was, How do I print this out? How do you print out a text? So he gave me his cell phone number, and now, I am going to troll him until this historian comes to my office and finally relents. He comes, and now, he steps into your domain, my brilliant friend of history. I expressed worry, fear, concern, demagoguery in our land, the rising of tribalism. I dump on him. I am normally a prisoner of hope. I am normally a purveyor of finding your joy even in the toughest of times. And he listens for a while, and then--and then--and then he looks at me and says: Cory, there is nothing about this time that is unprecedented. It is all precedented. You want to talk about demagoguery? And he goes through every generation of Americans having extraordinary demagogues. I read Margaret Chase Smith's incredible speech on this floor against a demagogue and the demagoguery even within her own party. He talked about the No. 1 radio show in all of America that the majority of Americans listen to and its anti-Semitic screeds.

Mr. BOOKER. Father Coughlin. He went through them all, and he said: Do you want a big worry? He said that there was an American general in the Depression. He said his name, but I am forgetting it now. I am not at my best. He said that this guy was calling for a military takeover of our democracy. Do you want to talk about authoritarianism? He talked about a Senator here on the left, Huey Long, who was calling for the people to storm the Capitol. He went through this all, and he said: Every single time, Nazis were in Manhattan at Madison Square Garden. I couldn't believe it. It was unbelievable. I wish people were there listening to this guy as he went through of all these times when America was at a crossroads, when we came upon a moral moment, and he said: What happened as to how we chose the right path? When people were trashing this document or treading on it or undermining it, when demagogues rose to the highest points of popularity in our land, how did we stop it? Well, he looked at me with some sympathy and said: Not you guys. Not a Senator. It was that the better majority of American people said: Enough. They chose to define the soul of our country. He gave that phraseology to our President, and he said the soul of America is not the people in office; it is the everyday citizens who choose the better angels of their nature, who choose right over wrong, who recognize a moral moment and know that they have to stand up and bend the arc of the moral universe or, more importantly, steer the ship of our state out of the troubled waters into the clear, open sea. I rose here--and I have gotten into lots of questions with my colleagues. But I rose, hoping to have reborn more of the stories of as many Americans as I could, and during the night, my friend Chris Murphy and I read a lot of them. You know me well, my friend. You know the truth of all of us in this place. You know the truth of everybody. We are all mountain ranges. We all have peaks, and we all have valleys. You, my friend, have seen my valley. You have seen me at my worst. I have failed as a leader at times or at least have come up short for my own personal expectations. You have seen me at some of my better moments. I know we have obligations. I know people are right to be upset or be demanding of us right now. Please help us. What are you doing in the face of people who might make it so that we might not have elections or might make it so that we do break things in this government that can never be fixed? One of the speakers who came into our caucus was one of the people who wrote the book ``How Democracies Die.'' Great nations, great civilizations that forget democracy don't necessarily die from external threats. They die from internal corruption. Think of the Roman Empire. Think of the Soviet Empire. It crumbled from its own corrupted failure to live up to its promises and ideals. We are at this moment. I am here to tell you, America, and to tell my friends and colleagues and anybody who cares to listen to a Senator from New Jersey that we are at that moment. We are past that moment. Every day, things are happening. In the 72 days of this administration, God, if there is not enough to upset you, to ignite you, to realize that maybe you and your family are not getting hurt but other Americans are. Our veterans are. Our seniors are. We have told their stories here. Over these last 21 hours, 22 hours, we have told their stories. People are getting hurt. People are afraid. People are worried. People I don't even agree with are getting disappeared. Law firms that I have known for my entire career--for my entire career--are being forced to kowtow to this President. Universities that should be the bastions of free speech, free thought, free enterprise, intellectual research, academic research, scientific research are getting torn up by cutting indirect costs. I have read stories of Ph.D. programs that are virtually being canceled, and from the best scientific minds not being able to build the state-of-the-art labs. The country that has led humanity in scientific invention is taking a blow. And Fareed Zakaria--I have read his article here, and he is saying that China is doubling down in investments in the universities as this President is cutting them--unless, of course, you come to the leader and make all of these commitments and meet all of these demands. There should be enough already. It should be enough already. So this is that moment John Meacham told me about. I want to try in the Senate--I know my colleagues--I see Tammy Baldwin; I see Chris Murphy; I see Angela Alsobrooks. I love you guys. I served side by side with you. I know your passion. I have heard your anger. I heard your fear. I heard how you want to fight for this country, but we are not enough. We can do demonstrations, we can do demands, we can try to do things differently. In fact, we must.

Mr. BOOKER. I will definitely yield to Tammy Baldwin, my friend and my colleague.

Mr. BOOKER. Thank you very much. I don't have that much gas in the tank, but hold on, let me say it right. I yield for a question while retaining the floor.

Mr. BOOKER. Yes.

Mr. BOOKER. I am so grateful for the question because that is what we said we are here about. We are here to try to elevate the voices of people affected by what they are doing to our government. And, frankly, as they cut the Department of Education completely or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, they are getting rid of Agencies that were created by Congress, and many people are right to believe they can't be eliminated without congressional action. We were talking before with people here that the biggest plurality of people being laid off from all of these Departments are our veterans. Again, I am going to be back in New Jersey this weekend. I am going to try to be at a rally, a townhall. I know everywhere I go in my State, I am going to hear from people who are rightfully angry, who are rightfully afraid, who are affected by this, who are fearful of what is to come. These are such important human emotions. But the question, then, is going to be for all of us, and I know people will be questioning me: What are we going to do? What can I do? What are you going to do, Senator? So I don't have a brilliant response. I don't have some prescient idea that we are going to be able to change the course of this. But I know we are going to fight. I want to be honest with you. I wasn't sure we could stop Donald Trump when he tried to take down the ACA. I just wasn't sure. I really wasn't. I did not know how that was going to end. People gasped--do you remember that--in this room.

Mr. BOOKER. People gasped. We did not know. This room usually has very predictable actions. That is why I am still standing here, because I didn't want the predictable. I didn't want business as usual to happen. It is rare that we have unpredictability on this floor. It is usually finely orchestrated. You know and I both know this. But that day, no one expected that or at least wasn't sure. It was drama. It was a moment. And we won. I want to tell you this. I said this earlier, when I say ``we won,'' I don't think there is one Senator here or the 99 others who convinced John McCain of his vote. I know who did, though, Arizonans who stood up, who spoke up, and demanded more from their leadership not to hurt people, not to hurt folks who needed that healthcare, not to hurt folks with preexisting conditions, not to hurt children. So I am one of these people who wants to learn from our history. I want to stand here today and tell you I am going to do everything I can. I am willing to go to some lengths. But I am inadequate. You are inadequate. We are Senators with all of this power, but in this democracy, the power of the people is greater than the people in power. This is a moral moment that more Americans need to stand up and say: Enough is enough. I am sorry, the civil rights movement wasn't won because of just a few Black folks who stood up and were really articulate. No. They called to the consciences of this country, and the country responded. It was a Rainbow Coalition that said this ain't who we are in America. I know New Jerseyans are hurting. I know. I have been to your State. I love your State. We had some fun in your State together.