Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, during a confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Allison Robbert/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon has been speaking on the Senate floor for more than 12 hours after announcing he would protest what he called President Donald Trump’s “grave threats to democracy.”

He began his remarks at 6:24 p.m. ET and was still speaking as of this morning.

“I’ve come to the Senate floor tonight to ring the alarm bells. We’re in the most perilous moment, the biggest threat to our republic since the Civil War. President Trump is shredding our Constitution,” Merkley said in his opening remarks.

The Democratic senator pointed to the Trump administr

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