Deal to end government shutdown advances in Senate

The days may be officially numbered for the longest partial government shutdown in history.

On Day 40 of the funding impasse, enough Senate Democrats decided to vote for cloture on the newly introduced spending package unveiled Sunday to get over the 60-vote hurdle and finally break the logjam.

An initial test vote Sunday night on the revised, beefed-up legislation got over that threshold — just barely, with exactly 60 votes — though final passage is unlikely until later this week.

The vote had been held open for over two hours allow for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the 60th vote, to return to the Capitol. He’d been back home over the weekend officially filing as a candidate for re-election next year in his state’s Republican primary.

New Hampshire centrists Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Has