Senator Jeff Merkley has passed the 16-hour mark in his filibuster speech on the Senate floor, opposing President Donald Trump and what the Oregon Democrat describes as a shift towards authoritarianism in the U.S. under the Republican administration. "This is an incredible threat to our nation," Merkley, a progressive, said in his marathon speech. "To the entire vision of our constitution. To the entire platform on which our freedom exists." The current filibuster record is held by Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, who spoke for more than 25 hours in a speech that began in March and ended in April this year.