The U.S. Senate voted today to end the partial government shutdown by a vote of 81-18.
Democrats joined Republicans to clear the way for the passage of a short-term spending package that would fund the government through Feb. 8 if Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, would allow a “fair” debate on certain immigration issues.
“We need to move forward and the first step, the very first step, is ending the shutdown,” McConnell said.
According to Agri-Pulse, the leader of the Senate Democrats, Chuck Schumer of New York, said that if no immigration agreement is reached in three weeks, then the issue of the 700,000 or so undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children will come to an up-or-down vote.
Before the government can reopen, however, the U.S. House must approve the stop-gap spending measure that the Senate passed. The bill then goes to the desk of President Trump.