WASHINGTON – New Jersey Democrat Sen. Cory Booker screamed at his colleagues in a rare occurrence on the Senate floor this week, arguing they were “complicit” with President Donald Trump and that his party “needs a wake-up call.”
The exchange occurred on July 29 as Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, sought to swiftly move a package of bipartisan bills that would increase resources and funding to police departments and officers. Booker objected to the package and offered an amendment that would require the administration to allocate public safety grants without political bias.
That ignited Cortez Masto’s ire, who complained that Booker hadn't raised his concerns when the bills passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he sits on, weeks ago. “This is ridiculous. This is an attempt to kill all of these bills,” she said.
Booker responded, “This, to me, is the problem with Democrats in America right now is we’re willing to be complicit to Donald Trump to let this pass through when we have all the leverage right now.”
He also got into a heated back-and-forth with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, who told him that he couldn't just stop bills that come out of a committee and then "allow for other bills that fund other parts of your budget in your state." Booker said he it was wrong to imply that the police bills were not vital to his state.
