Democrats break ranks to advance bill to end US government shutdown

Democrats descended into infighting after seven of their senators sided with Republicans to back a measure to end the longest US government shutdown in history.

- Chris Stein

Chuck Schumer, the Democrats' leader in the Senate, said his colleagues had abandoned the party's negotiating position. The most senior Democrat in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, said party members in his chamber would not back "a promise, a wing and a prayer, from folks who have been devastating the healthcare of the American people for years".

The Senate on Sunday night made significant progress towards ending the government shutdown, narrowly advancing a compromise bill to reauthorise funding and undo the layoffs of some employees.

But the measure, which resulted from days of talks between a handful of Democratic and Republican senators, leaves out the healthcare subsidies that Democrats had demanded for weeks. Most Democratic senators rejected it, as did many of the party's lawmakers in the House of Representatives, which will have to vote to approve it before the government can reopen.