Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon apparently decided that the Senate floor was the ultimate place for a political endurance contest. On the 22nd day of a government shutdown, he launched a speech against President Trump’s agenda that lasted longer than most people stay awake without coffee.

“The president believes that he is the king of this country and that he can control everything, regardless of what the law says or what we send him, and we have to collectively … say,’Hell no,'”

Merkley declared, presumably hoping sheer stubbornness would count as legislative achievement. After more than 22 and a half hours, he finally paused.

Merkley managed to outlast another Oregonian, former Senator Wayne Morse, who spoke for 22 hours and 26 minutes in 1953. Starting at 6:21 p.m. Tuesday and wrapping up at 4:48 p.m. Wednesday, Merkley’s “feat” mostly demonstrated that he can talk a lot without actually passing anything.

He’s the third Democrat this year to try this kind of Senate theatre. Cory Booker once spoke for more than 25 hours, breaking a decades-old record, while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spent nearly nine hours on the floor in July just to delay a tax-and-spending bill. The message: when you can’t win, exhaust everyone instead.

With Republicans holding majorities in both chambers, Merkley and his colleagues know they have almost no power, so they resort to marathon speeches to feel productive. Senate Democrats have also wielded the 60-vote threshold to block a stopgap funding bill passed by House Republicans—and one Democrat—on September 19. In other words, it’s protest theatre disguised as governance, with plenty of dramatic pauses for applause—or naps.