Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) took to the Senate floor Tuesday evening in protest of President Trump’s policies and has been speaking for more than 17 hours — with a handful of other Democrats sprinkled in.
The lengthy speech comes as the government shutdown stretched into its 22nd day, marking the second-longest lapse in funding in U.S. history.
The record for the longest floor remarks was reached earlier this year by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who spoke for 25 hours and 5 minutes to denounce the spending cuts included in the GOP’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” and policies put in place by the Trump administration.
The Senate is expected to vote for the 12th time on a stopgap funding bill that could reopen the government, but the speech will have to end first.
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