WASHINGTON — Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) showed no signs of yielding the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon as he approaches hour 22 of what could become a record-breaking marathon speech condemning the ongoing government shutdown, now in its 22nd day with no resolution in sight.
Merkley’s office confirmed the senator “plans to go as long as he is able to bring attention to how Trump is ripping up the Constitution,” according to a statement.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) set the record for the longest Senate speech in recent history in April at 25 hours and 5 minutes to protest President Donald Trump’s policies. Merkley would need to continue speaking until approximately 7 p.m. on Wednesday to pass it.
Merkley himself previously held the Senate floor for 15 hours in 2017 during the confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice nominee Neil Gorsuch.
“I want to repeat my main mission statement for being here through the night, and that’s to ring the alarm bells … at this authoritarian takeover and of this strategy of doing authoritarian bills in which families lose and billionaires win,” said Merkley, who began speaking shortly before 6:30 p.m on Tuesday.
Republicans, however, have criticized the extended floor speech as political theater. “The Democrats are going to make Capitol Police and Capitol support staff – who they refuse to pay – work all night so they can give speeches patting themselves on the back for shutting down the government and hurting the American people,” Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the Senate Majority Whip, posted on X Tuesday night. “How ridiculous is that?”
To help fill the time, the Oregon Democrat has been methodically walking through chapters of “How Democracies Die” by Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, prominently referencing the book’s chapter “The Guardrails of Democracy,” which examines how democratic norms erode before institutions collapse.
As Merkley’s speech stretched into its 15th hour, a rotating cast of Democratic senators joined him on the floor, weaving between immediate shutdown impacts, broader democratic erosion concerns, and policy issues like health care access.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) briefly joined Merkley, speaking on the erosion of democratic ideals.
“President Trump is following a playbook that would-be autocrats have used successfully in places like Hungary and Turkey,” Murphy said. “They maintain elections where critics and opposition can exist, but they rig the rules so the opposition never has enough oxygen to win at the national level.”
Booker also appeared on the floor this morning to bolster his colleague’s message.
“Americans are hurting. Americans are afraid. Americans are worried that they’re going to get a diagnosis from a doctor that’s going to drive them to bankruptcy. Americans don’t know how they could take care of a sick child and pay the rent,” Booker said emphatically.
He praised Merkley’s persistence, calling it “a master’s class in helping people understand not just constitutional principles, but how all of us are invested in this Constitution.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined the floor debate around noon, framing the issue in terms of constitutional separation of powers.
“Donald Trump is not a king. He will never be a king. And America does not bow down to kings,” Warren stated, linking Merkley’s extended floor speech to the constitutional concerns expressed by nationwide “No Kings” protests that have drawn millions across the country.
“Peaceful protest is patriotic. Holding the floor to protest what she characterized as ‘lawlessness’ is patriotic. Standing up for what is right, that’s patriotic.”
Speaking to reporters outside the Senate chamber, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) described her experience with Merkley. Her speech in the chamber focused on authoritarianism and the Justice Department, specifically calling out President Trump for “treating the Justice Department as his personal law firm.”
“I spoke with him on the floor and asked him some questions and talked about authoritarianism and what we’re seeing coming out of the Justice Department right now. [Trump’s] put his personal lawyers in there and he’s asking them to do his bidding. He’s asking them to go after his so-called enemies, removing career prosecutors, putting in his pals, giving pardons to people like George Santos,” Klobuchar said.
“I want to thank my colleague Jeff Merkley for standing up, not just for 10 minutes, not just when it’s easy, but through the night – and he’s still at it.”
As of the time of reporting on Wednesday afternoon, Merkley has not yielded the floor.
“The president is not a king. Americans are standing up because laws are not suggestions,” Merkley said. “Americans are standing up because following the Constitution is not optional.”
