A group of shutdown-weary Democratic senators voted with Republicans Sunday night to advance a legislative vehicle to reopen the federal government and end the 40-day shutdown that has left tens of thousands of workers furloughed and caused chaos at the nation’s airports.

The Senate voted 60-40 to proceed to a House-passed continuing resolution to reopen the government, taking a big first step toward ending the shutdown after a group of centrist Democrats negotiated a funding deal with Senate Republican colleagues and the White House.

Senate Democrats blocked that same House-passed bill to fund the government on 14 previous occasions.

But a group of centrist and retiring Democrats felt intense pressure to reopen the government after Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) fundi

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