⏰ A record-shattering Senate speech. A House vote held open longer than ever before — twice, in two weeks. Those are just some of the milestones that Congress has surpassed so far this year.

Why it matters: The 119th Congress is shaping up as one of the most grueling in recent memory, underscoring the stamina that grinding through massive legislation like President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" requires of both supporters and opponents.

• 😴 "I am tired of making history. I just want normal Congress, but some people have forgotten what that looks like," House Speaker Mike Johnson said when the House logged its longest-ever vote this month.

🚘 Driving the news: Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in April set the record for the longest Senate speech at 25 hours and four minutes, toppling the mark set by South Carolina segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond.

• Thurmond spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957 as a Democrat, but later became a Republican.
• In the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) this month gave a record-setting 8-hour, 44-minute speech protesting the "big, beautiful bill," surpassing then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) 8-hour, 32-minute speech in 2021.

Last Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson broke the record for the lower chamber's longest vote in history — for the second time in as many weeks.

• Johnson's strategy for dealing with his razor-thin majority has become holding votes open for hours as he tries to sway opponents in his own party.
• The latest record-setting vote, on the GENIUS Act, lasted nearly 10 hours. But the bill eventually passed, and Trump signed it.

The Senate, meanwhile, has already tied the record set in 1995 for the most vote-a-ramas in a single year when it held its fourth this month. That was on a measure taking back $9 billion in federal spending — including funds marked for PBS, NPR and foreign aid.

• Now, Majority Leader John Thune has made clear he is willing to test senators' pain tolerance in his pursuit of confirming more of Trump's nominees.
• He has warned senators to be ready for possible votes on nominations this weekend, potentially taking them into August before they recess.

The bottom line: With a government funding deadline looming in September, there's likely little rest in store for lawmakers after they return from their summer break.

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— Kathleen Hunter

Democrats engaged in a rare intraparty fight on the Senate floor this afternoon, laying bare their divisions on how and when to challenge Trump.

Why it matters: Technically, the Senate was debating bipartisan legislation on police grants. But Booker used it as an opportunity to accuse his party of not doing more to counter the president.

• "This, to me, is the problem with Democrats in America right now," Booker said. "We are being complicit to Donald Trump."

Driving the news: The Senate was considering a package of "police week" legislation that was expected to be easily passed, when Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) asked for unanimous consent.

• But Booker objected and offered an amendment to the underlying package to allow his state more access to certain police grants.

That surprise move provoked outrage from Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Cortez Masto.

• "This is an attempt to kill all of these bills. I don't know why," said Cortez Masto, doing little to hide her annoyance.

🥊 But Booker came prepared to fight, and he turned the debate into a critique of his party's response to Trump. He also claimed the legislation under consideration discriminated against certain states.

• "When will we stand and fight this president?" Booker said.

Zoom in: "I like to show up at the markup and make my case," Klobuchar said, needling Booker for missing a committee hearing.

• "I was just called out by name and I'd like to respond," Booker then said, cautioning against questioning his integrity.

The bottom line: Booker withdrew his objection, and the legislation ultimately passed, but he made his point.

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— Hans Nichols

Some of the House's most stridently pro-Israel Democrats — and even some Republicans — are unleashing an unprecedented barrage of criticism on Israel over the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Why it matters: Speaker Johnson and Minority Leader Jeffries will have to navigate a quickly shifting political environment that's realigning members' views.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), for example, has come under fire from pro-Israel allies over his support for Democratic New York mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani and for what they say is growing criticism of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

• Torres has been one of the most reflexively pro-Israel Democrats in Congress since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. He accused Netanyahu of aligning with the Republican Party in an interview with journalist Chuck Todd.
• The congressman's office pushed back on the idea he has shifted his position, pointing to past instances of him blasting Netanyahu and members of his government.

On the GOP side, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), in a Tuesday night post on X, became the first Republican in Congress to refer to the war in Gaza as a "genocide."

• Though she has a history of inflammatory remarks about Jews and the Holocaust, Greene has been staunchly pro-Israel for most of her time in Congress. She even tried to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks for Tlaib's criticism of Israel.
• But she has more recently sided with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) as an opponent of hawkish foreign policy in the Middle East, lambasting American and Israeli strikes on Iran last month as needlessly provocative.

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— Andrew Solender and Kate Santaliz