Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) has been speaking on the Senate floor for nearly 20 hours, warning that “tyranny has arrived” in America as the government shutdown stretches into its fourth week.

With no end to the government shutdown in sight, the Senate on Thursday failed to advance both Republican and Democratic-backed measures that would've paid some federal employees, military members and...

“I would call it the, ‘Let the President Decide who he feels Like Paying Act,’” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told The Independent after the vote.