Political Quotes

On the recordJanuary 20, 2018
I thank my colleague from Missouri for sharing Frankie's story with us today, the fight for progress, and the life she lived. I was thinking last night as we were debating here on the floor about one of the ways that Martin Luther King summarized how we move forward toward justice. He said that it takes ``the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.'' That is what it takes to move us forward, and it sounds as though she was every bit the tireless individual, the passionate individual, who worked to advance justice. I thank my colleague for sharing that story. Speaking of fighting and justice, we have a lot to talk about. We are here in the middle of the Trump shutdown. Last night was quite interesting. Democrats came to the floor and said that we need to keep the government open. We want to have a debate and a vote on a provision to extend the government by 24 hours so that we could really force leadership to get in the room and work out a resolution on multiple issues that are already bipartisan issues. It shouldn't be that hard, but the majority leader, who is in control of this body, proceeded to say that he objected. It takes unanimous consent to get to a bill, so he sealed the deal on the Trump shutdown. He made sure this body couldn't debate or vote on keeping the government open for another day. Senator Nelson put that forward, and then Senator Tester tried to say: OK, let's take a little more time.…
Said by
Jeff Merkley
Democratic · Oregon
Source
govinfo.gov
Jan 20, 2018

Share

More from Jeff Merkley

Aug 22, 2026

Common-sense measures to ensure abusers and violent offenders are barred from accessing firearms are the least we can do to protect the safety of both domestic abuse survivors and our broader communities.

wyden.senate.gov
Jul 28, 2026

“Our veterans face tremendous hurdles, including access to medical care when they live in rural areas,”

wyden.senate.gov
Jul 23, 2026

Our bipartisan bill supports more prescribed fire on the landscape—an essential forest management activity—while giving our communities the resources to plan and prepare for smoke events.

padilla.senate.gov
Jul 17, 2026

President Trump continues to sell access and influence to the highest bidders.

murphy.senate.gov

Other voices in this conversation