Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.), who nearly a decade ago served as Hillary Clinton’s running mate when she lost the presidency to Donald Trump, was the eighth Democratic senator to back a centrist deal the Senate is set to approve Monday that is likely to soon end the longest shutdown in American history.

Kaine’s top priority was to protect thousands of federal workers the Trump administration was attempting to fire during the government closure.

To win over Kaine, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) needed to win the White House’s backing on the language affecting federal workers.

“We spent the day working on that language,” Kaine said, referring to the frantic negotiations Sunday. “We reached a meeting of the minds at about 5:45” Sunday afternoon.

Until then, Kaine said he didn’t have a deal with the White House on retaining the thousands of federal of employees targeted by reductions in force (RIFs). Just before a more than two hour Democratic caucus meeting Sunday where he announced his support for the deal — disappointing many in his party who wanted to continue fighting — Kaine won those assurances.

“We had a caucus meeting at 6 [p.m.] … I walked in just with a deadpan face and they’re like, ‘What’s going on.’ I said, ‘We got the language we need,’” he said.

The deal to end the shutdown must be approved by the House and signed by President Trump, but it is likely to clear those hurdles later this week, reopening the government.

Democrats are likely to battle for months over the decisions made by seven Democrats and Independent Sen. Angus King (Maine), who caucuses with Democrats, to back a deal that does nothing to extend subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that are set to expire at the end of the year.

Liberal groups are already vowing to primary Democrats who back the bill, and it is possible very few House Democrats, if any, will back it.

Thune did promise a Senate vote on the health care subsidies issue as........

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