Overview
- As of early afternoon Wednesday, Jeff Merkley had surpassed 18 hours on the Senate floor after starting around 6:21–6:24 p.m. ET Tuesday, occasionally taking questions from Democratic colleagues to keep going.
- By holding the floor, he has stalled Senate business and delayed another vote on the House-passed stopgap funding bill as Democrats push to attach health-care subsidy extensions.
- Merkley alleges the administration has "weaponized" the Justice Department, pointing to indictments of figures including New York Attorney General Letitia James and to the resignation of U.S. attorney Erik Siebert.
- He also condemns federal and National Guard deployments to U.S. cities, highlighting an appeals-court ruling that cleared a potential deployment to Portland, Oregon.
- Republicans criticize the overnight speech for forcing unpaid Capitol Police and staff to work during the shutdown, and Merkley has not surpassed Sen. Cory Booker’s 25-hour record set earlier this year.