WASHINGTON — The Senate approved a procedural vote advancing a compromise bill to reopen the government until the end of January, marking the first step toward ending the record-long shutdown after weeks of negotiations.

Eight Democrats joined nearly all Republicans to greenlight a bill to temporarily reopen the government, just barely reaching the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster that has plagued the Senate for nearly seven weeks. The vote is the first of three procedural hurdles senators must overcome before voting on final passage of the bill.

The vote succeeded after being open for more than two hours as Republicans waited for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to arrive to the Capitol. Cornyn was traveling back from Texas and landed at the airport after the vote already ope

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