Senate begins voting on plan to reopen the government

The path to reopening the government has finally taken shape, but a lot of things need to go right before the longest shutdown in history can officially be over.

Senate Democrats allow Republican funding bill to move forward

The GOP-led House passed a temporary funding bill in September, but Democrats repeatedly blocked votes to move it forward over the course of the shutdown. The big breakthrough finally came on Sunday night, when eight Democratic senators joined Republicans to allow a procedural vote on the bill to pass. More of those votes will need to go through before the next steps can take place.

New provisions added to the bill

The GOP’s stopgap funding bill is not the actual legislation that will end the shutdown. It will have to be amended by the Senate to fit the parameters of the deal that Senate Democrats have agreed to. The current version of the bill would fund the government only until later this month. It will have to be changed so certain parts of the government — including food programs, the military and congressional operations — are funded through the end of the fiscal year. The rest of the government would be funded through the end of January.

Senate passes amended version of the bill

The Senate will then need to pass the new version of the bill without any of the eight Democrats defecting.

House returns to Washington

The House of Representatives has been out of session since before the shutdown began. On Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson gave members 36 hours to return to Capitol Hill, though he acknowledged that the ongoing disruptions at the nation’s airports caused by the shutdown could delay their return.

House passes Senate version of the bill

Republicans don’t need Democratic votes to approve the bill in the House of Representatives, but their razor-thin majority means that even just a few defectors within their ranks could block it from passing.

Trump signs funding bill into law

The government shutdown will officially end only w the president signs the legislation to reopen the government that has been passed by Congress.