The United States senate has made significant progress towards ending the longest U.S. government shutdown in history, voting on the first procedural step on the measure.

After weekend of negotiations in Washington, a minority of Democrats joined with Republicans on Sunday, November 9, and voted in favour of an agreement.

The 60-40 vote to take the first step towards ending the shutdown came hours after enough Democrats agreed to support a package that wouldn’t fund multiple agencies and programs for the full fiscal year, and all others until January 30, 2026.

In exchange, Democrats have a commitment from the Trump administration to rehire government workers fired at the start of funding lapse, and the promise of the Senate floor vote in December on legislation to extend expiring Obamacare tax credits.

In the end, eight members of the senate Democratic caucus voted Sunday night, to advance the House-passed stopgap, which is being used as a vehicle for the larger funding deal.

The vote will pave the way for, consideration later this week of a legislative package that would fund the Department of Agriculture and FDA, the Department of Veterans Affair and military construction projects, and the operations of Congress for all of current fiscal year – the product of months of bipartisan, bicameral negotiations between top appropriators.