Congress ties record for longest shutdown as bipartisan talks pick up steam

Mark Abramson/Bloomberg/Getty Images via CNN Newsource

WASHINGTON DC -- With Congress now tied for its longest-ever shutdown, a small group of fed-up lawmakers in Washington are furiously trying to end the standoff as soon as this week.

Those members insist there’s real momentum this time. Yet the potential off-ramp doesn’t appear to deliver Democrats any real win on their biggest demand of the shutdown: health care.

Talks over reopening the government are focused on putting together a funding package and giving Democrats a stand-alone vote to extend expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, according to sources familiar with the high-stakes negotiations. The deal would also include a pathway to move ahead with three bills to fund major agencies of the federal government through