U.S. Senate Democrats continued to hold out on agreeing to end the record-long federal government shutdown on Thursday, despite Republican overtures to reverse federal employee layoffs as part of a bid to reopen shuttered agencies.

Democrats spent nearly two hours in their second closed-door caucus meeting in as many days on the 37th day of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which has furloughed about 750,000 federal employees, forced thousands more to work without pay and shut off food assistance and Head Start subsidies for millions of Americans, including children. A new pressure point was expected to open in the days ahead as major U.S. airports braced for a 10% cut in airline flights due to a lack of pay for air-traffic controllers.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority bu

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