Print
Close
Merkley nearly breaks Booker's filibuster record, wins his praise for fighting 'Trump's authoritarian tactics'
By Leo Briceno
Published October 22, 2025
Democrats pulled out all the stops Wednesday to delay the vote on a short-term spending bill to reopen the government, the 12th time the Senate has considered the measure since the government entered a shutdown Oct. 1.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., embarked on a nearly 24-hour speech at 6:23 p.m. Tuesday, concluding his remarks at 5 p.m. the next day. Merkley, 68, warned viewers of the authoritarianism he said had become a facet of the Trump administration.
"Be aware and worried about the possibility of the use of an emergency in order to expand authoritarian power. That’s the position we’re in now in the United States of America. Authoritarianism with a rubber-stamp Congress, a court that’s delivering more and more power to the executive and an executive who has a well-planned strategy," Merkley said in his remarks.
JOHNSON WARNS US 'BARRELING TOWARD ONE OF THE LONGEST SHUTDOWNS' IN HISTORY
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., speaks to reporters after a weekly Senate Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington Feb. 19, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
"Republicans have shut down the government to continue the strategy of slashing Americans' healthcare."
He delivered his speech as lawmakers remain gridlocked over federal funding for 2026. While Republicans in the House of Representatives have passed a short-term funding bill to keep the government open through Nov. 21, Democrats in the Senate have voted a dozen times to defeat the package.
The Senate once again failed to advance the package on Wednesday. It failed in a 54-46 vote.
Democrats, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., have demanded an extension of COVID-era supplemental funding for Obamacare healthcare subsidies that will sunset in 2025.
SCREAMING MATCH ERUPTS BETWEEN HAKEEM JEFFRIES, MIKE LAWLER AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CHAOS CONTINUES
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., right, update reporters after their face-to-face meeting with President Donald Trump and Republican leaders on the government funding crisis at the Capitol in Washington Sept. 29, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
Republicans need the support of seven Democrats to overcome the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster. The GOP holds 53 seats in the chamber.
Merkley, who came close to breaking Sen. Cory Booker’s 25-hour and 4-minute record set earlier this year, put the shutdown blame on Republicans throughout his discourse.
Booker praised Merkley's stalling efforts online.
"Listening to Senator Jeff Merkley for over 22 hours, it is clear that we need to stand up for our democracy. We must continue to call out and counter Trump's authoritarian tactics. Thank you, Jeff!" Booker said in a post on X.
On the issue of authoritarianism, the primary topic of Merkley's remarks, Merkley decried what he saw as the Trump administration’s attempts to push the limits on executive power, like its deployment of the National Guard to urban areas.
"If you remove a clear standard as to whether there is a rebellion and just say a president can deploy the military on a whim in places he doesn’t like against peaceful protesters to distract Americans or to exercise a suppression of dissent, then you have flung the doors open to tyranny, to a strongman state," Merkley said.
National Guard members began patrolling Memphis in October as part of a federal task force established by President Donald Trump to combat what the administration says is violent crime in the city. (Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
President Donald Trump has deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Chicago; Memphis; and Portland, Oregon, citing a need to protect law enforcement and government operations in those cities.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/merkley-nearly-breaks-bookers-filibuster-record-wins-his-praise-fighting-trumps-authoritarian-tactics