Cory Booker: “I just want to first say, as I present my question to him, how grateful I am for his stamina and for his strength but…”

“I just want to first say, as I present my question to him, how grateful I am for his stamina and for his strength but, more importantly, for his insightful truths that he has been telling now for well over 14 hours. In many ways, we see a tradition in this body of being a deliberative body, but it seems now, more and more, that deliberation is giving way to what the Founders never imagined, which is that of simply conceding to anything that the President of the United States wants. We were born to check and balance the Presidency. We are the article I branch of government. As my colleague rings the alarm bell, it is clear to me that the alarm bell he is ringing is not a partisan alarm bell; it is not left or right. It is right or wrong. It is about asserting the article I branch of the Constitution's strength, its purpose, its constitutional intent. That is to provide oversight. That is to provide advice and consent. That is to provide the checks and balance that we need. For hours now, what I have been seeing is that my colleague Jeff Merkley has, time and time again, been laying plain facts that would not play no matter what party a person is from. The President is encroaching again and again and again on the constitutional prerogatives of the article I branch of government, and the result of this is that people are hurting.”