A group of shutdown-weary Democratic senators voted with Republicans Sunday night to advance a legislative vehicle to reopen the federal government and end the 40-day shutdown that has left tens of thousands of workers furloughed and caused chaos at the nation’s airports.

The Senate voted 60-40 to proceed to a House-passed continuing resolution to reopen the government, taking a big first step toward ending the shutdown after a group of centrist Democrats negotiated a funding deal with Senate Republican colleagues and the White House.

Senate Democrats blocked that same House-passed bill to fund the government on 14 previous occasions.

But a group of centrist and retiring Democrats felt intense pressure to reopen the government after Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding expired on Nov. 1 and staff shortages among air traffic controllers resulted in major delays at airports.

Eight Democrats voted to take up the House bill.

The group included Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), who will retire at the end of the year, and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who represents more than 144,000 employees in his home state.

Sen. Angus........

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