Oregon Sen. Merkley says “Trump is tightening his authoritarian grip” as he pushes sweeping legislation to fight back, claims it’s aimed at restoring checks and balances

Portland, OREGON – “Trump is tightening his authoritarian grip. We can’t let him,” U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley said Aug. 12 as he urged Congress to advance legislation he described as a roadmap for protecting American democratic institutions.

Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, was referring to the For Our Republic Act, a broad legislative package he introduced to address what he characterized as an erosion of democratic safeguards under President Donald Trump.

“The For Our Republic Act is a roadmap to protecting our democratic institutions, drawing on the expertise of senators from across the country,” Merkley said. “Let’s get it passed!”

Merkley unveiled the legislation Aug. 4 alongside Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. The package contains provisions focused on government oversight, congressional authority, civil liberties, elections and protections for federal employees.

The legislation comes as Merkley and other Senate Democrats have increasingly challenged Trump’s use of executive power and accused his administration of weakening traditional checks and balances.

The For Our Republic Act is organized around 10 principles, including protecting independent government watchdogs, preserving a nonpartisan civil service, strengthening free speech, reaffirming equal justice, restoring Congress’ power of the purse, combating government corruption and protecting free and fair elections.

Another provision seeks to address what Merkley and his Democratic colleagues describe as the use of authoritarian policing tactics. The proposal also includes measures involving immigration enforcement and government surveillance.

Merkley has specifically argued that Congress needs to reclaim authority that he believes has increasingly shifted toward the executive branch.

In announcing the legislation, Merkley described the current political environment in stark terms, arguing that the country was already experiencing what he called authoritarianism rather than simply facing a potential future threat.

The senator also criticized Trump’s relationship with Congress and the Supreme Court, arguing that the traditional system of checks and balances had been weakened.

The legislation would also seek to strengthen protections for federal inspectors general and limit the president’s ability to remove independent government watchdogs. That provision follows Trump’s removal of 17 inspectors general early in his second administration, an action that has drawn criticism from Democrats and government-oversight advocates.

The bill would further protect nonpartisan federal employees from political interference and seek to prevent presidents from withholding funds that Congress has already appropriated.

Ethics and corruption provisions are another major component of the proposal. The legislation would extend certain bribery and ethics restrictions to the president and vice president and establish additional safeguards intended to prevent government officials from using public office for personal or political gain.

Immigration enforcement is also addressed in the package. Among the proposed measures are restrictions on certain biometric surveillance technologies used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and changes affecting immigration judges.

Merkley has framed the legislation as a response to what he sees as an accumulation of executive actions rather than a response to one specific Trump policy.

“The For Our Republic Act lays out a clear roadmap of the actions Congress can take to fight back against Trump’s authoritarian takeover and reassert our authority,” Merkley said when the legislation was introduced.

Duckworth and Blumenthal, who joined Merkley in introducing the package, also criticized the Trump administration and argued that additional congressional safeguards were necessary.

The bill has received support from several organizations, including Public Citizen, the Project on Government Oversight, Refugees International and Common Cause.

Merkley’s latest comments came as he continued promoting the legislation to his constituents and followers. His Aug. 12 post urged lawmakers to move forward with the proposal, portraying it as an effort to prevent further erosion of democratic institutions.

The For Our Republic Act faces the same political challenge confronting many Democratic proposals in the current Congress: gaining enough support to move through the Senate and become law.

For Merkley, however, the legislation represents a broader effort to reassert congressional oversight and reinforce the constitutional limits on presidential power.

His message remained direct: Congress should act before what he describes as an expanding concentration of executive power becomes more difficult to reverse.