Overview

• On July 29, Booker objected to unanimous consent on a package of seven bipartisan police funding measures, allowing only two bills on death benefits and trauma kits to advance.
• He cited President Trump’s withholding of public safety grants from predominantly Democratic states as justification for demanding language to shield funds from politicization.
• Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Amy Klobuchar accused Booker of ambushing the package with a last-minute amendment after failing to raise concerns during committee markup.
• The floor confrontation highlighted a rare and public intraparty split over whether Democrats should pursue bipartisan deals or adopt a more confrontational strategy against the Trump administration.
• Republican strategists seized on the dispute to underscore perceived Democratic disunity as the Senate remains divided over how to respond to executive grant leverage.