US House Speaker Mike Johnson said the House of Representatives will vote “as soon as possible” after a Senate vote on Sunday opened the door to the federal government reopening.

Johnson told reporters that he will give his House colleagues 36 hours’ notice pending a final vote from the Senate and added that members should start returning to Washington “right now”.

“We applaud seven Senate Democrats and one independent senator who did the right thing,” Johnson said of the 60-40 vote on Sunday night that could be the first step to the end of the longest government shutdown in United States history.

Among the Democrats who voted with their Republican counterparts are Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Tim Kaine of Virginia, and Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen from

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