STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It is Wednesday, hump day, as people say, and so far, Congress has not accomplished much in the way of legislation. A fight over a rule for new parents effectively paralyzed the House of Representatives, prompting Republican leaders to just go home. The Senate paused for a record-breaking speech. Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey spoke for slightly over 25 hours. NPR congressional correspondent Barbara Sprunt was there for both. Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: I'm curious about this. When you're covering a 25-hour speech, do you stay there for the whole thing hanging on every word?
SPRUNT: (Laughter) You know, I can't say that I had the same stamina as Senator Booker.
INSKEEP: Ah.
SPRUNT: I was there for parts of it, can't claim to be there for the full 25 hours.
INSKEEP: OK. So you broke for a nap or a bathroom break or...
SPRUNT: There you go (laughter).
INSKEEP: ...Whatever. But I saw parts of this as it went along. He was showing it on YouTube. It was on TV. So what was it like?
SPRUNT: I mean, the stamina it takes, itself, is quite stunning to do something for 25 hours long. And, you know, like we were joking about, you really can't leave. You know, he can't leave to get food. He can't go to the bathroom. He'd been fasting since Friday in preparation, hadn't been drinking water. He told us afterwards that that helped avoid the bathroom issue but did cause him to cramp up throughout the speech.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CORY BOOKER: I'm very sore and weary and tired and - but I'm enormously grateful for a lot of folks who sent me their very, very personal stories. They gave me a chance to speak to the pain, hurt, fear, anger, demands of a lot of Americans.
SPRUNT: And as you said, it was historic. He broke the 1957 record of Senator Strom Thurmond, and I think worth noting that that is significant in its own right. A Black Senator broke the record of someone who held the Senate floor in protest of the Civil Rights Act.
INSKEEP: I suppose whether you think this is impressive or not might depend partly on your partisan orientation. Although some Republicans gave him credit for doing this. What do you accomplish when you talk for so long?
SPRUNT: Well, you know, he said this came about after hearing from constituents and Democrats around the country calling on their lawmakers to do more as the opposition party. And obviously, there are limitations to what Democrats can do in the minority. But Booker talked about how this was something he felt he could do, that would be bold. And he wanted to share those stories of people who he says have been impacted by the actions of the Trump administration. He did not derail a nomination with this marathon speech but he did delay the timing of it.
INSKEEP: Oh, interesting, of the Senate approving a nominee. So what was happening in the other chamber? Would you explain how it was that the House was frozen for the week?
SPRUNT: Yes. So Florida Republican Anna Paulina Luna and Colorado Democrat Brittany Pettersen have a proposal that would allow lawmakers who are new parents to vote by proxy for 12 weeks around the birth of a new child. They both have young children themselves. Pettersen was actually holding her 9-week-old during the vote.
INSKEEP: Wow.
SPRUNT: And Luna used something called a discharge petition to force a vote on the measure. But House Speaker Mike Johnson is really opposed to this bill. Here he is ahead of the vote.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MIKE JOHNSON: It's unconstitutional, and there's no limiting principle. So if you allow it for some situations, you're ultimately going to have to allow it for all, and I think that destroys the deliberative nature of the body.
SPRUNT: So he tried a maneuver of his own to block Luna, and he lost. Eight Republicans ultimately sided with her yesterday.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ANNA PAULINA LUNA: Today is a pretty historical day for the entire conference. It's showing that the body has decided that parents deserve a voice in Washington and also to the importance of female members having a vote in Washington, D.C.
INSKEEP: How did the abandonment of eight Republicans paralyze the chamber?
SPRUNT: Well, Johnson tried to stop the bill by tying it to other Republican bills that were going to be voted on this week, like restricting courts from issuing national injunctions. When this died on the floor, basically, so did the rest of those legislative plans. So he sent everyone home for the week, said he'll regroup and come back next week, do this thing again.
INSKEEP: Well, Barbara, I guess you'll have less to do for the rest of the week.
SPRUNT: Wouldn't that be nice (laughter)?
INSKEEP: NPR's Barbara Sprunt.
SPRUNT: Thank you.
INSKEEP: She'll be covering something.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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