ALEX BUCKNAM
Asst. News Editor
Washington has been busy these past two weeks with multiple events taking place, one being historical.
Such happenings include two special elections in Florida to fill the vacant seats in the House of Representatives. Additionally, the record for the longest Senate speech was broken and President Trump implemented tariffs and then put a 90-day pause on them a few days later.
On April 1, Florida held two special elections to fill the seats of Michael Waltz of Florida’s 6th congressional district and Matt Gaetz of Florida’s 1st congressional district.
Waltz, who resigned from office on Jan. 20 to be the National Security Advisor, was replaced by Republican Randy Fines. Fines previously was in Florida’s state Senate and House of Representatives.
Fines achieved a total of 110,978 votes (56.7%). His opponent, Joshua Weils, achieved 83,571 votes (42.7%). Fines was sworn into office on April 2.
Florida’s 1st congressional district was left vacant by Gaetz, who resigned on Jan. 3 to stop a congressional ethics investigation report from coming out. Gaetz’s seat was filled by Republican Jimmy Patronis.
Patronis received 97,365 votes (56.9%), and his opponent Gay Vailmont received 72,337 votes (42.3%). Patronis was sworn in on April 2.
As of April 11, the House of Representatives has a total of 220 Republicans and 213 Democrats, with two seats left vacant.
There will be a special election in Arizona on Sept. 23 to fill Democrat Raúl Grijalva’s seat. Grijalva was the representative for Arizona’s 7th congressional district. The seat was left vacant when Grijalva passed away on Mar. 13.
The other seat is for Texas’s 18th district, left vacant when Democrat Sylvester Turner passed away on Mar. 5. A special election will be held on Nov. 4 to fill Turner’s seat.
On April 1, Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey broke the record for the longest Senate speech. Booker started his speech on Mar. 31 at 7 p.m. and concluded on April 1 at 8:05 p.m.
His speech lasted 25 hours and five minutes, breaking the record previously held by late Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.
Thurmond filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes.
According to Booker, his main objective was to tell stories of people who are being affected by President Trump and his administration. “Senator Booker took to the Senate floor with the intention of speaking as long as he was physically able,” stated Booker’s government website.
According to Booker’s website, “[Booker’s main objective for his speech] was to uplift stories of Americans who are being harmed by the Trump Administration’s reckless actions, attempts to undermine our institutions and disregard for the rule of law.”
At the end of Booker’s speech, he quoted late Democratic Representative John Lewis, stating, “Let’s get into some good trouble.”
When interviewed after the speech by reporters, Booker mentioned that he did not have to take bathroom breaks and did not wear a catheter: “I think I stopped eating on Friday and then stopped drinking the night before I started on Monday.” Though Booker did break the record for the longest Senate speech, it was not considered a filibuster since Booker was not delaying a vote from taking place.
The Senate website defines filibuster as “to prolong [a] debate and delay or prevent a vote on a bill, resolution, amendment or other debatable question.” Booker’s speech did not do any of these.
A day after Booker’s speech concluded, President Trump announced a list of countries that would be facing reciprocal tariffs, with over 80 countries on the list.
Some countries on this list, like Afghanistan, Argentina, the Bahamas and the United Kingdom, would only be facing a 10% tariff, while China would be facing the highest with a 34% tariff.
Other countries on the list include India, Japan and Vietnam.
On April 9, President Trump put out a statement that countries hit with these high tariffs would face a 90-day pause and would only face a 10% blanket tariff until July.
Trump released a statement stating that this 10% blanket pause only counts for countries that did not retaliate.
The only country not included in the 90-day pause is China. President Trump then increased China’s tariff to 145%.
The White House also clarified that Mexico and Canada are not affected by the April 2 tariff or the blanket 10% tariff.
The Leader will provide updates on President Trump, his administration and Congress when able.
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