Merkley Holds Senate Floor for 22 hours 37 minutes to Ring the Alarm Bells of Trump’s Authoritarianism

By The Office of Sen. Jeff Merkley

Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley issued the following statement after holding the Senate floor for 22 hours 37 minutes – the third longest in Senate history – to ring the alarm bells about the Trump Administration’s authoritarian takeover of the country:

“Trump’s plan is to replace government ‘of, by, and for the people’ with government ‘of, by, and for the powerful.’

“This is the position we’re in right now in the United States of America. An authoritarian strongman is pushing for complete control of America thanks to a rubber-stamp Congress, a Supreme Court that’s delivering more and more power to the Executive, and an Executive that has a well-planned strategy to trample our democratic institutions, thanks to Project 2025.

“Americans are standing up because the President is not a king. Americans are standing up because laws are not suggestions. Americans are standing up because following the Constitution is not optional.

“After over 22 hours on the floor, my message is exactly the same as it was when I started: We need to stand strong together to ring the alarm bells that ‘Trump’s authoritarianism is here now.”

Archived livestreams of Merkley’s speech are available on his YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@SenatorJeffMerkleyYT.

A one-pager on his speech can be found by clicking here.