Merkley's marathon speech keeps Senate up all night
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Senator Jeff Merkley at a rally outside the U.S .Capitol Sept. 30. Photo: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Democrat Jeff Merkley's Senate floor speech warning that "tyranny has arrived" in America is closing in on 20 hours as the government shutdown enters its fourth week.
Why it matters: Democrats are increasingly using marathon speeches as a tactic to draw attention to what they say is an increasing authoritarianism emanating from the Trump administration.
- Merkley began his speech after 6 p.m. on Tuesday evening. The Oregon senator spent much of the night reading from the book "How Democracies Die" by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.
- The speech follows Sen. Cory Booker's (D-N.J.) record-breaking 25-plus hour performance in April — the longest speech in Senate history.
Driving the news: Merkley is arguing that lawmakers are facing a critical moment in standing up to the Trump administration, saying the president is trying to "trample" the Constitution.
- "Trump's plan is to replace government by and for the people, with government by and for powerful," Merkley said on the floor late Tuesday night.
- Merkley's wide-ranging remarks focused on what he said are attacks on the free press, the weaponization of the Justice Department, the misuse of American troops in cities across the country and deep GOP cuts to health care programs.
- The speech also comes in the middle of a prolonged government shutdown, with no signs of progress toward a deal.
The other side: Republicans slammed Merkley for the speech on Tuesday and Wednesday, criticizing Democrats for holding the Senate open while workers in the building aren't get paid because of the shutdown.
- "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," Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the second-ranking Senate Republican, said on X.
- "Democrats spent the night reading poetry on the Senate floor. Capitol Police are being forced to listen to this nonsense while not getting paid," Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) said on X.
