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Powerless to stop President Trump or Russell T. Vought, the nominee to lead the White House budget office, Democrats pulled an all-nighter to show their opposition.
Feb. 6, 2025Updated 11:22 a.m. ET
There was no nursery rhyme reciting nor phone book reading. No cots wheeled out for senators to catch naps in between speechifying.
But one by one on Wednesday night and into Thursday, Senate Democrats flocked to the floor for an all-night talkathon to protest the confirmation of Russell T. Vought, President Trump’s nominee to lead the White House budget office and an architect of his ultraconservative Project 2025 policy agenda.
Several senators swigged caffeinated beverages. One arrived straight from a black-tie banquet. The eyes were bleary but the outrage was fierce as Democrats took turns railing against Mr. Vought, who has orchestrated many of Trump’s moves to go around Congress to dismantle and defund the federal government.
They had no hope of stopping Mr. Vought. Consigned to the minority, Democrats lacked the votes to block him or any other Trump nominee so long as Republicans continued to largely hold together in support. Still, the all-nighter was a chance for members of a party that is under intense pressure from its base to push back more strongly against Mr. Trump to at least try to show they were trying.
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“Mr. President, it’s getting late,” Senator Adam B. Schiff of California said not long before 11 p.m., about 10 hours into the gabfest. He criticized Republicans for failing to join in opposition to Mr. Vought but also made clear that the nonstop speeches had just as much to do with Democrats and their message to the public.
