Democratic Sen. Merkley of Oregon stages marathon speech to protest Trump amid shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon is staging a marathon speech on the Senate floor to protest President Donald Trump’s “tightening authoritarian grip on the country” amid the government shutdown.

Merkley started speaking at 6:21 p.m. Tuesday and was still going more than 17 hours later, pausing only for occasional questions from other Democratic senators.

The lengthy speech comes as Democrats have forced the government shutdown over their demands to extend government health care subsidies and as Republicans have refused to negotiate over the expiring tax credits until Democrats vote to reopen the government. Democrats have voted 11 times to keep it closed — with a 12th vote scheduled on Wednesday — and the two sides have made little progress toward a resolution.

Merkley said during his speech that Republicans were the ones shutting down the government “to continue the strategy of slashing Americans’ health care” after passing cuts to Medicaid and other programs over the summer.

He used several hours of his speech to describe what he said were Trump’s authoritarian moves, including attacks on the press and policies that Democrats say are enriching billionaires at the expense of regular people. He said that Trump’s plan is to replace a government “by and for the people with a government by and for the powerful.”

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey broke the record for longest continuous floor speech in April. Booker, who also was protesting Trump, broke a record set 68 years ago by then-Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.

Merkley had already broken his own record for a floor speech, which was more than 15 hours in 2017 to protest Trump's nomination of Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court. At the time, it was the Senate's eighth-longest floor speech.

By holding the floor open all night, Merkley forced Senate floor staff, security and other support workers who are currently unpaid to work overtime hours. The government has been shut down since Oct. 1.

“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 No. 2 Senate Republican, posted on X Tuesday night. “How ridiculous is that?”

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Ryan Wrasse, posted that Thune provided dinner on Tuesday night “for all of the unpaid Capitol Police officers and support staff who were stuck here.”

At around 2:45 a.m., Merkley paused to untie his shoelace. He said standing in one place had “made my shoes a little tight.”

“I don’t recommend standing through the night and talking,” said Merkley, who turns 69 on Friday. "Not a healthy pursuit. But I am standing here to ring the alarm bells.”