Cory Booker

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 6. Merkley began an anti-President Donald Trump filibuster Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 22 (UPI) — Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., passed the 14-hour mark Wednesday morning in his filibuster speech on the “grave threats to democracy” he said President Donald Trump poses.

Merkley began his speech at 6:24 p.m. EDT Tuesday and was speaking as of about 10 a.m. Wednesday. The record for a Senate filibuster was set in April this year by Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who spoke for 25 hours and 5 minutes.

The senator from Oregon used the speech to warn about what he described as Trump’s shift toward authoritarianism and weaponization of the Justice Department. He said it was “an incredible threat to our nation.”

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

“President Trump is shredding our Constitution.”

Merkley took issue with the level to which Trump has used executive actions and powers, the mass deportations carried out by his administration, the deadly strikes used against suspected drug cartels in South and Central American waters, federal troop deployments to U.S. cities, and his work to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, according to Newsweek.

“President Trump wants us to believe that Portland, Ore., in my home state, is full of chaos and riots,” Merkley said. “Because if he can say to the American people that there are riots, he can say there’s a rebellion. And if there’s a rebellion, he can use that to strengthen his authoritarian grip on our nation.”

Merkley’s filibuster comes days after thousands of “No Kings” protests were held across the country. The anti-Trump demonstrations addressed many of the same issues as Merkley’s speech.

The Senate, which has yet to pass a stopgap funding bill to reopen the government after a 22-day shutdown, will be unable to carry out any business on the Senate floor until Merkley concludes his speech.

July 12 (UPI) — The State Department on Friday began notifying 1,353 affected workers of their pending job losses as the department reduces its workforce by 15%.

The people losing their jobs amid the downsizing work in positions that are being eliminated or consolidated, a State Department official told media on Thursday, NBC News reported.

“This is the most complicated personnel reorganization that the federal government has ever undertaken,” the official told reporters during a briefing. “It was done so in order to be very focused on looking at the functions that we want to eliminate or consolidate, rather than looking at individuals.”

The State Department notified 1,107 civil service and 246 foreign service workers of their pending job losses, CBS News reported.

The department plans to eliminate nearly 3,400 positions, including many who have already accepted voluntary departure offers this year.

The State Department also will close or consolidate many U.S.-based offices as part of the reduction in force that is being done in accordance with a reorganization plan, which members of Congress received in March.

The Trump administration says the downsizing is needed to eliminate redundancy and better enable the State Department to focus on its primary responsibilities.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio created the downsizing plan, which he said is needed due to the department being too costly, ideologically driven and cumbersome, The New York Times reported.

The downsizing isn’t going unchallenged on Capitol Hill.

All Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Friday opposed the downsizing in a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“During a time of increasingly complex and widespread challenges to U.S. national security, this administration should be strengthening our diplomatic corps — an irreplaceable instrument of U.S. power and leadership — not weakening it,” the Democratic Party senators said.

“However, [downsizing] would severely undermine the department’s ability to achieve U.S. foreign policy interests, putting our nation’s security, strength and prosperity at risk.”

The Senate Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee include Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Chris Coons of Delaware, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Tim Kaine of Virginia.

The Senate committee’s other Democratic Party members are Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Jacky Rosen of Nevada.