Washington — Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey sparred with fellow Democrats on Tuesday over a bipartisan policing package deal, accusing them of being “complicit” in President Trump’s agenda in a uncommon second of intraparty disagreement that performed out on the Senate flooring.
The heated trade arose after Booker objected to a movement from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat from Nevada, to swiftly move a package deal of payments associated to legislation enforcement. Booker mentioned he needed to make a change to the bloc of measures to make sure sources are distributed equally amongst legislation enforcement companies in response to the Justice Division’s modifications to grant applications and cancellation of awards.
“We are standing at a moment where our president is eviscerating the Constitution of the United States of America, and we’re willing to go along with that today,” he mentioned. “No, no. Not on my watch. I stand against this. It is a violation of our Constitution for the president of the United States to ignore the will of Congress and decide which states are eligible for grants and which are not.”
Booker accused Cortez Masto and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who backs the legislative package deal, of lecturing him.
“What I am tired of is when the president of the United States violates the Constitution, trashes our norms and traditions and what does the Democratic Party do? Comply? Allow him? Beg for scraps? No. I demand justice,” he mentioned.
Booker mentioned the Democratic Celebration “needs a wake-up call.”
“It’s time for Democrats to have a backbone. It’s time for us to fight. It’s time for us to draw lines,” he mentioned, as his voice began rising. “Don’t question my integrity. Don’t question my motives.”
Booker mentioned in his remarks from the Senate flooring that the Justice Division has been weaponizing public security grants to punish state and native jurisdictions that oppose Mr. Trump’s second-term agenda, and it’s withholding funds from legislation enforcement companies throughout the nation once they had been accredited by Congress with bipartisan backing.
“It is disgraceful, it is unfair, it is unjust and it is dangerously reckless toward the officers whose well-being they are jeopardizing,” Booker mentioned. “Federal funds should not be used for partisan political gains.”
The New Jersey Democrat lambasted his colleagues and accused them of successfully blessing Mr. Trump’s determination to rescind grant funds by approving the legislative package deal.
“For us as a body to move forward right now is being complicit in what Donald Trump is doing,” Booker mentioned. “I say no. I say we stand. I say we fight. I say we reject this, and that in a bipartisan way, we demand an end to this kind of constitutionally unjust carving up of the resources we approve.”
Booker had put ahead an modification to the bloc of payments that he mentioned would forestall politicization and guarantee sources are unfold evenly amongst legislation enforcement companies, whatever the state they’re in.
Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, speaks to members of the media whereas arriving for a vote on the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, July 17, 2025.
Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg through Getty Pictures
“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 there is, to say, ‘if you’re as passionate about police as we are, then pass bills out of this body that will help the police officers in Washington, that will help the police officers in Illinois, that will help the police officers in New Jersey,’” he mentioned. “Don’t be complicit to the president of the United States.”
In response, Cortez Masto mentioned the measures had been accredited by the Senate Judiciary Committee with bipartisan assist — together with by Booker. She criticized him for not placing forth his proposed modification when the payments had been earlier than the panel and mentioned his instructed change doesn’t apply to her laws.
“This is ridiculous,” she mentioned, including that Booker ought to have raised his considerations weeks in the past. “Is this the right venue to fight for what he is seeking?”
Klobuchar, in her personal remarks on the Senate flooring, additionally defended the package deal and instructed Booker had missed the committee assembly once they had been marked up. Booker is a member of the Judiciary Committee.
“I can’t help it if someone couldn’t change their schedule to be there,” she mentioned.
Klobuchar mentioned Booker has had points together with her policing invoice that predate Mr. Trump’s return to the White Home, including, “One of the things I don’t understand here is that we have committees for a reason, and we have hearings for a reason. And you can’t do one thing on Police Week and not show up and not object and let these bills go through, and then say another a few weeks later on the floor.”
The tense back-and-forth got here as Democrats have struggled to coalesce round a technique for pushing again towards Mr. Trump’s second-term agenda. Republicans management each the Home and Senate, leaving Democrats with restricted means to derail his legislative priorities in the event that they disagree with them.
