Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley’s 15-hour speech overnight was indeed very long, but it will not go into the Senate record books as a filibuster.
Merkley took the Senate floor at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday and left it 15 hours and 28 minutes later. According to Senate records, that is the eighth-longest speech in the modern Senate era. If the Oregon Democrat had just stuck it out for three more minutes, Merkley would have surpassed Huey Long’s 15-hour and 30-minute oration back in 1935, when Long talked about the National Industrial Recovery Act.
But Merkley did manage to surpass legendary speeches by Alphonse D’Amato in 1992 and Robert Byrd in 1964 that were about 20 minutes shorter.
The last time anyone spoke longer on the Senate floor was Ted Cruz, who took the floor for more than 21 hours in 2013. D’Amato also did a 23-hour 30-minute speech in 1986. Strom Thurmond holds the official record, at 24 hours and 18 minutes, for the lengthiest Senate speech, when he filibustered the Civil Right Act in 1957.
Technically, Merkey’s talk wasn’t part of a filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has filed a cloture motion on Tuesday, so Merkey’s prolonged speech won’t delay a vote on the cloture motion on Thursday.
Cruz’s 2013 speech also didn’t meet the criteria for a filibuster because it didn’t delay a vote.
But Rand Paul’s speech in March 2013 was considered a filibuster at the time. He protested John Brennan’s nomination as CIA director and the use of drones by the government. The 2013 Paul filibuster lasted almost 13 hours and Cruz, Mike Lee and Ron Wyden also took part in the effort.
In general, talking filibusters are rare in modern times. The Senate currently uses a “silent” filibuster system where a member threatens to filibuster. A cloture vote is then required, with a 60-vote majority, to override the filibuster and limit debate time.
In December 2010, Senator Bernie Sanders also spoke for more than eight hours to protest a tax law. That was the longest filibuster since 1992’s D’Amato speech.
While Thurmond is recognized for having the longest filibuster, that record is not without controversy. A 1957 article in Time magazine said that Thurmond left the Senate floor about 4 ½ hours into his 24-hour filibuster to use a bathroom. And there’s other evidence that Thurmond went into the Senate cloakroom to eat a sandwich, and left the Senate floor.
