Hakeem Jeffries and Cory Booker hold 12-hour sit-in against GOP funding plan

From left, Hakeem Jeffries; Maya Wiley, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; and Cory Booker, at the US Capitol on Sunday. Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images

Hakeem Jeffries and Cory Booker held a sit-in protest and discussion for more than 12 hours on Sunday on the steps of the US Capitol in opposition to Republicans’ proposed budget plan.

Billed as an “Urgent Conversation with the American People”, the livestreamed discussion between the House minority leader and the New Jersey senator came before Congress’s return to session on Monday, where Democrats hope to stall Republicans’ economic legislative agenda. Throughout the day, they were joined by other Democratic lawmakers, including the senator Raphael Warnock, who spoke as the sit-in passed the 10-hour mark.