Paul, who has been holding up popular bipartisan legislation to make lynching a federal crime, came to the Senate floor in Washington to add an amendment to the anti-lynching legislation and then pass it.

Harris said, “Senator Paul is now trying to weaken a bill that was already passed — there’s no reason for this, there’s no reason for this.”

In emotional remarks, Booker said he felt “so raw today,” saying, “of all days we’re doing this right now when God if this bill passed today, what that would mean for America.

“My colleague over there, Rand Paul, is one of the first hands I shook” on the Senate floor, Booker said.

Shortly after, GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska came to the floor for a speech she had been planning for weeks to give on women’s suffrage.