Late Sunday, the Senate took the first in a series of votes that likely will lead to the government reopening later this week.

A deal aimed at ending the US government shutdown has passed the Senate, paving the way for the record-breaking impasse to be broken.

In a test vote that is the first in a series of required procedural maneuvers, the Senate voted 60-40 to move toward passing compromise legislation to fund the government and hold a later vote on exte...