Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon has been talking on the Senate floor for greater than 12 hours after saying he would protest what he known as President Donald Trump’s “grave threats to democracy.”
He started his remarks at 6:24 p.m. ET and was nonetheless talking as of this morning.
“I’ve come to the Senate floor tonight to ring the alarm bells. We’re in the most perilous moment, the biggest threat to our republic since the Civil War. President Trump is shredding our Constitution,” Merkley stated in his opening remarks.
The Democratic senator pointed to the Trump administration’s earlier halting of research grants for universities in its battle over campus oversight in addition to the recent indictments of a number of of the president’s political opponents in addition to his deployment of National Guard troops to Portland.
“President Trump wants us to believe that Portland, Oregon, in my home state, is full of chaos and riots. Because if he can say to the American people that there are riots, he can say there’s a rebellion. And if there’s a rebellion, he can use that to strengthen his authoritarian grip on our nation,” Merkley stated.
The senator’s remarks signify a symbolic present of Democratic resistance because the get together has blocked Republican efforts to reopen the federal government 11 instances, remaining in a standoff over well being care subsidies.
The shutdown is predicted to pull on Wednesday because the deadlock enters a fourth week.
Earlier this 12 months, Democratic Sen. Cory Booker held the Senate floor for 25 hours and 5 minutes, warning in opposition to the harms he stated the administration was inflicting on the American public. The effort broke the document for the longest floor speech in fashionable historical past of the chamber.
This was additionally not Merkley’s first time holding the Senate floor – he beforehand spoke for greater than 15 hours in 2017 against Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
In current years, the chamber has seen various marathon speeches mounted by senators, together with Sen. Chris Murphy on gun management in 2016; Rand Paul over National Security Agency surveillance packages in 2015; and Ted Cruz in opposition to the Affordable Care Act 2013.