Booker Blocks Bipartisan Bill Honoring Anti-Communist Hero

WASHINGTON—A bill to honor a prominent Cuban anti-communist has bipartisan congressional support.

Cory Booker isn’t having it.

The New Jersey Democrat blocked a bill that would rename the street outside the Cuban Embassy after the late anti-communist Cuban activist Oswaldo Payá. Payá, who founded the Christian Liberation Movement in the 1980s, died in a 2021 car crash, that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights determined to be an intentional act by the Cuban government against Payá, according to the New York Times.

The bill to name the street “Oswaldo Payá Way” in his honor has been introduced multiple times, most recently by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). Cruz described the late activist as a “Cuban dissident who fought against the communist regime and who stood up and fought for free speech for democracy and for human rights. He was a thorn in the side of the Cuban communist regime his entire life.”

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Booker called Payá an “extraordinary hero” who should be honored, but said it should be up to the Washington, D.C. City Council to rename the street.

“His work should be recognized more by our nation, and I would support the D.C. Council, their elected representatives, if it decided through their democratic process to work with the senator and the Democratic sponsor to rename the street,” Booker said on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

“My objection is simply right now about Washington, D.C.’s, right to control their own local affairs. This objection is about home rule and self-governance. Now it is true, as my colleague said, that this has passed through this chamber multiple times,” the Democrat continued.

Cruz, whose family fled Cuba’s communist regime, rebutted Booker’s argument. The Texas Republican said Booker’s opposition is simply about opposing President Donald Trump, who faced Democratic pushback for the federal law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital.

“The purpose here is to put pressure on the Cuban Communist regime, and naming the street does that. Now, Mr. President, as I pointed out, Sen. Booker voted for this identical legislation just two years ago, this bipartisan legislation that leads to the obvious question, what has changed?” Cruz said on the floor.

“And one thing has changed. The resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, when Senator Booker voted for this bipartisan legislation, Joe Biden was the president. Today, Donald J. Trump is the president, and unfortunately, our Democrat colleagues have decided bipartisan cooperation is no longer something they’re interested in. Their party is instead unified behind one principle, which is that they hate Donald J. Trump,” the Republican continued.

Booker, who recently broke the record for the longest-ever Senate floor speech, has a history of grand political gestures.