Eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus voted Sunday evening to proceed to a House-passed continuing resolution, taking a major step toward ending the 40-day shutdown.

The Senate voted 60-40 to advance the House bill, which will serve as the legislative vehicle for a bipartisan deal to fund military construction, veterans’ affairs, the Department of Agriculture and the legislative branch through Sept. 30 and the rest of government through Jan. 30.

It sets the stage for the House to return to Washington later this week to vote on the bill in hope of getting to President Trump’s desk for his signature.

Here are the Democrats who voted to break the logjam in the Senate:

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.)

Fetterman has been the most outspoken critic of the Senate Democratic leadership’s strategy to block a clean, House-passed continuing resolution to fund the government in an attempt to get Republicans to agree to an extension of enhanced health insurance premiums.

Fetterman has argued for weeks that Democrats didn’t have any real leverage in the government funding battle, even though he supports the Democratic leadership’s desire to extend insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The Pennsylvania freshman was especially outspoken in voicing concern about the nearly 42 million Americans who are at risk of going hungry because of the expiration of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine)

King is an independent who caucuses with Democrats and supports extending health insurance premiums, but he expressed his concerns at the start of the shutdown........

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