On Sunday night, Senate Democrats emerged from a lengthy two-and-a-half-hour caucus meeting with promising news: they have secured enough votes to reopen the federal government after a challenging 40-day shutdown.

This breakthrough came thanks to a group of centrist Democrats, spearheaded by Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent who aligns with Democrats, along with New Hampshire Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan. They collaborated with Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, led by Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, to forge this crucial agreement.

Following the meeting, Sen. King informed reporters that the necessary votes are in place to push the deal through the Senate. He emphasized that the Democratic supporters of the legislation are eager to end what they believe has been an overly prolonged shutdown.

When asked about his confidence in the bill’s passage, King replied, “That’s certainly what it looks like,” signaling optimism about the vote’s outcome.

The Senate will reconvene at 8 p.m. on Sunday, with a vote anticipated later that evening to officially bring the shutdown to a close.

King said “the length of the shutdown” persuaded Democrats to support the deal, many elements of which had been on the negotiating table for weeks.

He said it became increasingly clear that Republicans were not going to agree to a deal to reopen the government and extend enhanced health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that are due to expire in January.  

King says there’s still a “chance” the subsidies will be renewed because Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has promised as part of the deal to give Democrats a vote on the ACA subsidies in November.

“Part of the deal is a vote on the ACA subsidies,” he said.

He said that he and other members of the Democratic caucus want to end the shutdown in the next few days because “a lot of people are being hurt.”

The bill still needs to pass the House, which hasn’t voted since Sept. 19. It then needs to go President Trump’s desk for a signature.

Several Democrats emerged from the meeting, however, pledging to oppose the deal, including Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). 

“A wink and a nod to deal with this health care crisis later – with no actual guarantees – is just not enough for me or the Wisconsin families I work for,” Baldwin said in a statement.