These aren’t April Fools’ pranks.
Yes, director Oliver Stone actually testified at a House hearing on the JFK assassination on April Fools’ Day this year.
It was the first congressional hearing on President John F. Kennedy’s death since 1992.
Stone then held a press availability.
Not on the grassy knoll. But in a corridor outside the hearing room.
Surely this next item is an April Fools’ prank.
Yes, House Republicans scheduled a hearing on what they believe is overreach by federal judges in their rulings against the Trump administration. And then a small group of Republicans blocked the House from even debating a GOP bill to rein in those judges. The reason? A dispute over whether the House should allow members who are pregnant or are new moms to vote remotely.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., then sent the House home for the week Tuesday afternoon – after less than two days of work.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Or what about Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., giving a speech to rail against the Trump administration on the Senate floor which began at 7 p.m. ET on March 31 – but didn’t conclude until after 8 p.m. ET on April 1?
In the process, Booker broke the Senate record for the longest speech in Senate history: 25 hours and five minutes. Booker bested the old mark of 24 hours and 18 minutes set by the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., in 1957 over a civil rights bill.
But the hardest thing to believe about Booker’s marathon speech?
A reporter asked the New Jersey Democrat if he wore a catheter or a diaper to get through the 25-hour stretch.
April Fool?
“I don’t want my doctor to get mad at me, but I spent time dehydrating myself beforehand so I did not have to go to the bathroom,” said Booker. “My strategy was to stop eating. I think I stopped eating on Friday. And then to stop drinking the night before I started on Monday.”
Now, the greatest April Fools’ joke of all?
Despite Booker’s protracted oratory, one can argue that he wasn’t “filibustering.”
“Filibustering” in the Senate is in the eye of the beholder. Or the mouth of the senator.
The Senate features unlimited debate. And the act of “filibustering” carries a negative connotation. Opponents may pejoratively deride the other side as “filibustering” their bill or a nomination. But a senator might claim they’re not filibustering. They’re simply using a Senate prerogative.
But it’s an issue of debate whether Booker was actually “holding something up.” That’s the most defining characteristic of a filibuster. A senator can derail or delay Senate business.
On the one hand, the Senate had no votes officially locked in for Tuesday. The Senate voted (ironically) to break a filibuster on the nomination of Matthew Whitaker to serve as ambassador to NATO at 7 p.m. ET Monday. That’s when Booker began his speech.
By rule, the Senate can take up to 30 hours after cracking a filibuster before the confirmation vote takes place. It was presumed that the Senate would vote at some point on Tuesday to confirm Whitaker. Whitaker’s nomination wasn’t the most controversial thing before the Senate. But if senators consumed all the time afforded them after vaulting the filibuster, the Senate would automatically vote to confirm Whitaker at 1 a.m. ET Wednesday. That’s 30 hours after clearing the filibuster.
So, it can be argued that Booker had a window under which to operate – which might make his address just a really long speech – and not a filibuster.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., hoped to force a vote on a resolution to kneecap President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada on Tuesday. It would end the president’s emergency declaration to justify the tariffs. But that roll call vote wasn’t set either. So that means Booker wasn’t necessarily filibustering.
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Hollywood and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” imbued the public consciousness with the idea that a lengthy speech is automatically a filibuster.
And often very dramatic.
But in the Senate, most filibusters are silent. “Filibustering” is frequently the threat that senators will oppose something. Or, at the very least, oppose something so that the majority leader must jump through procedural hurdles to clear a filibuster. That’s what the Senate executed Monday night with a procedural vote to end the filibuster on the Whitaker nomination.
So Booker’s stem-winder may have just been a slight delay. But not a filibuster in the most conventional sense. The Senate confirmed Whitaker Tuesday night after Booker concluded.
But it’s also worth noting that Booker did not speak consecutively for 25-plus hours. So, was this truly a record-breaking speech?
Yes, but a more accurate way to characterize his feat is that Booker established a new record for holding the Senate floor the longest.
During his speech, Booker would periodically “yield for a question” to a colleague while “maintaining” his right to the floor.
Booker would speak for a while. And when his voice grew raspy, he’d yield to a host of Democrats: Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. They’d each speak for 10 or 15 minutes. And then punctuate the end of their speech with an interrogative – sending things back over to Booker.
This is “legal” in the Senate. Booker still had control of the floor so long as he remained standing. But it gave him a timeout to relax and recharge for a few moments. Kind of like calling in a relief pitcher from the bullpen for an inning or two.
In track and field, officials sometimes dot a record-breaking sprint with an asterisk – noting that the mark was “wind assisted.” One could certainly make the case that Booker’s effort was “wind assisted” – via the “wind” of fellow senators consuming time with their own speeches. But Booker’s endeavor does not require a parliamentary asterisk.
Here’s why:
Strom Thurmond set the record for the longest “speech” in 1957. He began one evening and ended a little more than 24 hours later.
In Thurmond’s day, there was little TV. Certainly no C-Span. Many reporters didn’t even know what Thurmond was up to until the next morning. And Thurmond’s speech wasn’t even in the papers until the day after that.
As a result, Thurmond didn’t have to hold the floor as strictly as Booker did.
Fox has found that Thurmond left the floor at least several times during his speech. He used the restroom. Grabbed a sandwich in the cloakroom. Deferred to Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, D-Texas, the future president, to approve a few bills via unanimous consent and even swear in a new senator.
If a tree falls in the forest…
One can applaud Thurmond’s stamina. But Thurmond’s achievement is not any more significant than Booker’s from an endurance standpoint.
Thurmond used certain timeouts to get the record. And so did Booker.
And now Booker holds the record.
But because it was April Fools’ Day, would you believe it if I told you that U.S. Capitol Police arrested an aide to Booker for allegedly carrying a firearm inside the Capitol complex?
How did the aide get into the Capitol complex with a handgun?
Fox confirmed that Booker himself led the aide around a security checkpoint in the Hart Senate Office Building.
That isn’t supposed to happen. And U.S. Capitol Police aren’t supposed to let lawmakers bring people into the complex without going through security.
If I told you this all happened, you probably wouldn’t have believed it because it was April Fool’s Day.
But this is Congress.
And even April Fools’ Day is just another day on Capitol Hill.
