U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, one of eight members of the chamber to cross party lines and endorse a GOP plan to end the nation’s longest government shutdown , defended his vote on the Senate floor Monday amid intense party criticism of the deal .

“Many of my friends are unhappy. They think we should have kept our government closed indefinitely to protest the policies of the Trump administration,” Durbin said, as he continued to blame the shutdown on President Donald Trump and allied Republicans.

“I share their opinions of this administration, but cannot accept a strategy which wages political battle at the expense of my neighbors’ paycheck or the food for his children,” said Durbin, Illinois’ senior senator and the chamber’s No. 2 ranking Democrat.

The vote by Durbin, who will retire

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