Senate passed bill to end shutdown: Last night, the Senate voted 60-to-40 to advance a bill that would end the shutdown, with a critical group of Democrats breaking with their own party and voting with the Republicans.
"We had no path forward on health care because the Republicans said, 'We will not talk about health care with the government shut down,'" Sen. Tim Kaine (D–Va.) told The New York Times. "And we had SNAP beneficiaries and those relying on other important services who were losing benefits because of the shutdown."
