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- Senators struck a deal on Capitol Hill on Sunday in a bid to end the government shutdown.
- Six Democratic Senators voted to advance a package that would reopen the government.
- The shutdown will not end immediately. The measure will be debated in the Senate before being moved to the House.
Lawmakers are now one step closer to ending the longest government shutdown in the country's history.
Senators gathered at Capitol Hill for a rare Sunday session, hoping to reach a deal to end the government shutdown.
And a deal, they got. Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, Jeanne Shaheen, John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto, Maggie Hassan, Tim Kaine, and Jacky Rosen voted in support of the motion, per their Sunday statements on X.
Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, entered the chamber just before 10:50 p.m. E.T., and voted in favor of the bill. Republicans control the majority with 53 seats in the Senate, but need 60 votes to pass the funding package, and Cornyn's vote tipped it over the edge.
The shutdown will not end immediately. The measure now needs to be debated in the Senate, then approved by the House of Representatives.
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said in an X post on Sunday night that some Democratic lawmakers had reached a deal with Thune to amend the bill. The deal included funding SNAP benefits for the year ahead and reversing "the mass firings the Trump Administration ordered throughout the shutdown."
"This bill is not perfect, but it takes important steps to reduce their shutdown's hurt," Durbin said on X.
The longest government shutdown in US history may be close to its end
The government shutdown, which began on October 1, is now the longest ever in US history.
The Senate Committee on Appropriations, which drafts legislation to allocate federal funds, introduced an initial series of bills on Sunday to fund various government departments and initiatives.
Drafts of bills to address some of the key outstanding issues that have divided Congress, however, like an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies and a reversal of President Donald Trump's cuts to Medicaid, have so far not been made public.
Expanded Obamacare tax credits are set to expire by the end of the year, which could result in increased insurance premiums for Americans. Democrats, on their end, want to extend the tax credits. Spending for that program underwent cuts earlier this year after Trump signed his One Big Beautiful Bill in July.
The prolonged shutdown is affecting Americans in many ways.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been either furloughed or forced to work without pay. Air traffic controllers, who are paid through the Federal Aviation Administration, haven't received a full paycheck since late October. Many of those workers are no longer showing up to work, prompting a staff shortage ahead of Thanksgiving. The FAA has reduced daily flights during the government shutdown to ensure passenger safety.
Many Americans who rely on the federal government for food aid are also feeling the squeeze of the government shutdown. The Trump administration ordered a pause to SNAP benefits beginning November 1. That order is now mired in legal uncertainty. Some 42 million Americans rely on the hunger relief program to buy groceries.