US Capitol Building at sunset on Jan. 30, 2025 (Fox News Digital)
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.
ANNA PAULINA LUNA FORCES HOUSE LEADERSHIP'S HAND ON PROXY VOTING AS GOP WAR ESCALATES
Sen. Cory Booker speaks on the Senate floor, Tuesday morning, April 1, 2025. (Senate Television via AP)
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.
The White House said the president's advisers would urge him to veto Kaine's resolution. (Reuters)
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.
Sen. Strom Thurmond (Getty)
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.
(Getty)
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.
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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.
Chad Pergram currently serves as a senior congressional correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/reporters-notebook-april-fools-capitol-hill