Sen. Cory Booker in angry outburst says 'complicit' Democrats need a
'wake-up call'
[July 30, 2025]
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare public outburst on the Senate floor Tuesday,
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker took his Democratic colleagues to task,
declaring his party “needs a wake-up call!”
Angrily screaming at two of his shocked Democratic colleagues, his words
all but reverberating off the chamber walls, Booker blocked the passage
of several bipartisan bills that would fund police programs, arguing
that President Donald Trump’s administration has been withholding law
enforcement money from Democratic-leaning states.
“This is the problem with Democrats in America right now,” Booker
bellowed. “Is we’re willing to be complicit with Donald Trump!”
The surprise Senate spat over bills that have broad bipartisan support —
mental health resources and other help for police officers — strikes at
the heart of the beleaguered Democratic party’s dilemma in the second
Trump era as they try to find a way back to power, and also their
frustration as Republicans have pushed through legislation and
nominations that they vehemently disagree with. Do they cooperate where
they can, or do they fight everything, and shut down governance in the
process?
“A lot of us in this caucus want to f—— fight,” Booker said with an
expletive as he left the Senate floor after the exchange.
Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, one of the two Democrats on the
floor who tried to pass the law enforcement bills that raised Booker’s
ire, said she had a different view.
“We can do both,” she said afterward. “Support our communities, keep
them safe, and take on Donald Trump and his bad policies.”
Booker’s tirade began Tuesday afternoon when Cortez Masto tried to pass
seven bipartisan bills by unanimous consent. But Booker objected to five
of the seven bills, which would have directed resources to law
enforcement agencies, arguing that the Trump administration is
“weaponizing” public safety grants by canceling them in many
Democratic-leaning states like New Jersey.
“Why would we do something today that’s playing into the president’s
politics and is going to hurt the officers in states like mine?” Booker
asked.
Things escalated from there, with Cortez Masto and Minnesota Sen. Amy
Klobuchar, D-Minn., saying that Booker should have objected when the
bill was passed unanimously out of committee. “This is not the way to go
about it,” Cortez Masto said.
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Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks during a news conference on the
Voting Rights Advancement Act, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, July 29,
2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Klobuchar said to Booker: “You can’t just do one thing on Police
Week and not show up and not object and let these bills go through
and then say another a few weeks later on the floor."
“I like to show up at the markups and I like to make my case,"
Klobuchar said.
Booker responded with a booming tirade. “The Democratic party needs
a wake up call!” he yelled, walking away from his desk and out into
the aisle. “I see law firms bending the knee to this president, not
caring about the larger principles,” he said, along with
“universities that should be bastions of free speech.”
He added: “You want to come at me that way, you will have to take it
on with me because there’s too much on the line.”
The arguments points to the tensions below the surface of the
Democratic caucus as they head into important moments — both this
week, as Republicans push to quickly confirm dozens of Trump
administration nominees before the August recess, and this fall when
Congress will have to pass bipartisan spending bills to avoid a
government shutdown.
Democrats suffered a swift backlash from their base in the spring
when Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., helped advance
a Republican spending bill that kept the government open instead of
forcing a shutdown. Schumer argued that shutting the government down
would have been worse, and that they were both “terrible” options.
It is unclear whether Schumer and Democrats will want to force a
shutdown in the fall if Republicans don’t include some of their
priorities in spending legislation.
Booker did not have specific advice for his colleagues beyond the
need to fight harder. But other senators say they will have to find
a balance.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut says he hears both
things at home — “why can’t you all get along” and “thank you for
fighting.”
“Both are absolutely necessary at this moment in history,”
Blumenthal said.
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