How one Alabama senator's quiet diplomacy helped end longest shutdown in US history

One Senate Republican proved that it's still possible to bridge the chasm between the aisles after brokering an end to the longest government shutdown in history.The 43-day impasse in Congress may have ended in the House, but it was in the Senate that Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., worked to build an old-fashioned bipartisan coalition to jump-start the stalled chamber.It took several weeks, numerous conversations and reconstructing broken trust between Senate Republicans and Democrats to pull off what would become a bipartisan package to reopen the government.HOW CLOSED-DOOR NEGOTIATIONS AND A GUAR