Government shutdown updates: Senate vote marks step towards ending federal shutdown

Senate Majority Leader John Thune continues to search for a path to reopen the government while Democrats huddle again privately Thursday.

"Hopefully they'll come out of there with 10 or more that are willing to vote open the government. We'll find out," Thune told reporters after he opened the floor on Thursday morning.

Thune has hinted that senators may work through the weekend, depending on the progress in the upper chamber.

"If there's a path forward to vote, whether that's today, tomorrow, Saturday, we'll stay and do that," Thune said. "If the far left wins out in this and the Dems dig in, then I don't know. We'll see."

-ABC News' John Parkinson

In a filing overnight, USDA informed a federal judge that it had initially miscalculated the SNAP benefits that would be paid out if all $4.65 billion left in the program's contingency fund were depleted.

"USDA performed further analysis and determined that the maximum allotments need only be reduced by 35%, instead of 50%," agency official Patrick Penn said in a sworn declaration.

This means the benefits will be paid out at 65% of the typical November amount, not 50%.

The mistake was also caught by advocates who have sued the Trump administration, who noted it in their own filing to the court Tuesday night.

-ABC News' Steven Portnoy

Senate Democrats are expected to huddle as a caucus behind closed doors on Thursday -- the 37th day of the government shutdown.

Democrats will meet for a caucus lunch hosted by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, an aide confirmed to ABC News.

The ongoing government shutdown is expected to be a focus of those discussions. A similar lunch by Democrats on Tuesday lasted nearly three hours as Democrats attempted to sort out a path forward.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

As airports across the country deal with flight delays and brace for cancellations, ABC News spoke with an FAA employee who has been working at Dulles International Airport without pay for the last 36 days.

Cleverson Schmidt is an FAA radar technician at Dulles and a union representative. He is a father and a veteran. He says the impact of the shutdown is two-fold: putting a strain on both his family and air safety.

"It's terrifying and stressful," Schmidt said. "I have a family that depends on me. I have a wife that works part time. She has health complications. I have a 15-year-old son who depends on me."

Schmidt said staying vigilant is a key part of the job. As a radar technician, he said they are the "voice, radios and eyes through scopes" for air traffic controllers.

"They're able to determine weather patterns," he said. "Airplanes land safely using our flight slopes." But Schmidt said patience is wearing thin as employees are not being paid.

"We wish to stay vigilant -- we want to, and we have every intent to, but at some point if it's between me and my pride versus my son going without not eating or my wife not being able to take her medication, I will be forced to make that decision, and the investment the FAA and my government made in my training will be gone."

Schmidt said the staffing shortages have a domino effect.

"That culmination, that increase of stress is causing people to get sick more often" or simply to "take time off, maybe because they have to go and do a side gig, just so they can feed their kid."

"That puts additional stress on technicians, other technicians," Schmidt said. "So, you're adding stress on [an] already strained system.

Existing staffing challenges have been made "exponentially" made worse by the shutdown, Schmidt said. "We're exhausted now."

Asked how much that exhaustion is compromising air safety, Schmidt replied, "That compromise goes up every single day."

Addressing lawmakers, Schmidt said, "Infrastructure is not something that should be toyed with."

-ABC News' Rachel Scott and Noah Minnie