WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon is staging a marathon speech on the Senate floor to protest President Donald Trump’s “tightening authoritarian grip on the country” amid the government shutdown.

Merkley started speaking at 6:21 p.m. Tuesday evening and was still going into Wednesday afternoon, pausing for increasingly lengthy questions from other Democratic senators. It was unclear how long he would go, or whether he could approach the record-breaking 25 hour speech by his colleague, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, in April. Booker was also protesting Trump.

“I’m starting to feel a little dazed after all of these hours on the floor," Merkley said after around 18 hours of standing up and speaking.

The senator's talk-a-thon comes as Democrats have forced the government shu

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