BREAKING: Senate Votes 81-18 to End Government Shutdown

US Senator Mazie Hirono (left); US Senator Brian Schatz (right).

The Senate has voted 81-18 in favor of advancing a bill to end a federal government shutdown that went into effect early Saturday morning.

US Sen. Brian Schatz voted in favor of the bill to end the shutdown, while US Sen. Mazie Hirono cast a vote against the proposal.

The short-term spending proposal temporarily funds government operations for three weeks and gives the Senate more time to address immigration policy.

Under the bill, federal agencies are funded through Feb. 8, 2018.

New York Senator Chuck Schumer took to his Twitter account saying there’s still much to do including protecting dreamers, writing a budget and addressing health care, veterans, disaster relief pensions and the opioid epidemic.

Sen. Hirono released the following statement on the continuing resolution:

“There are battles worth fighting.

“Protecting DREAMers, reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program, funding Community Health Centers, and providing parity between funding for defense and domestic priorities – without pitting one against the other – were battles worth fighting.

“I’m confident that we can reach bipartisan agreement on these issues and it was completely unnecessary for the President and Congressional Republicans to force a shutdown on them. My consistent position has been to oppose any continuing resolution that did not include these priorities. I voted against this continuing resolution for this reason.

“At the same time, Mitch McConnell promised on the Senate floor today that he would hold an open debate on DACA and immigration if no compromise is reached by the time this continuing resolution ends on February 8. We should all expect the Majority Leader to honor this promise.

“There is no question that an open debate on immigration will be a knock-down, drag-out fight. There is an urgent need to protect DREAMers, and we can’t lose sight of this in the upcoming debate.”