WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate advanced the nomination of former Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Rex Tillerson on Monday to be President Donald Trump's secretary of state.

As voting continued, the procedural vote was 56 to 43 to move toward a final confirmation vote, most likely late Tuesday or early on Wednesday.

The vote was almost exclusively along party lines, with every Republican voting to advance the nomination and almost every Democrat voting against it, amid deep partisan rancor over Trump's executive order banning immigration from seven mostly Muslim countries and temporarily halting the entry of refugees. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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