The US House of Representatives has taken a procedural step toward ending the longest government shutdown in US history on Wednesday, advancing a stopgap funding package to restart disrupted food assistance, pay hundreds of thousands of federal workers and revive a hobbled air-traffic control system.

The Republican-controlled chamber on Wednesday voted 213-209 to move towards a final vote on the measure, with President Donald Trump's support largely keeping his party together in the face of vehement opposition from House Democrats, who are angry that a long standoff launched by their Senate colleagues failed to secure a deal to extend federal health insurance subsidies.

Eight Senate Democrats on Monday broke with party leadership to pass the funding package, which would extend funding th

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