The Senate of the US Congress approved on Monday evening a bill on temporary funding of the government apparatus, preventing a “stop” of the work of government agencies.

American government employees could go on indefinite unpaid leave after September 30 due to the fact that Congress delayed agreement on the relevant bill. The current funding law and the 2011 fiscal year expire on Sept. 30, and Congress was scheduled to go into a week-long recess starting Monday.

The Senate voted for the bill by 79 votes in favor and 12 against. The bill is not a final decision - it provides for funding of government agencies until November 18, during which time the chambers of Congress plan to resolve the existing budget dispute.

The reason for the dispute was articles on budget financing of the US Emergency Management Agency and the development of fuel-saving technologies. The House of Representatives previously passed its version of a bill that would allocate $3.65 billion to the American emergency department to deal with the consequences of hurricanes, earthquakes and forest fires that hit the United States in August. Congressmen also cut funding for a program to stimulate the production of cars with fuel-efficient engines by 1.5 billion. The Senate proposes to allocate $6.9 billion to the emergency department and not reduce funding for developments related to saving motor fuel. Thus, two versions of the bill must be agreed upon by the chambers and on their basis a single version must be drawn up, which the president will sign.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives refused to meet the Senate halfway, and the Democratic-held Senate was reluctant to approve the House bill.

Only after the US emergency department announced on Monday that its coffers would be empty by the end of the week and many Americans whose homes, cities and towns still unrepaired from Hurricane Irene would be left without government aid, did congressmen and senators sit down to the negotiating table. They found a compromise quickly - by Monday evening, employees of the offices of several senators confirmed that “a deal had been reached,” and a few hours later the voting itself took place.

The Senate agreed to provide $2.65 billion as an emergency measure for the emergency management agency, which should last until November 18.

“We averted a disaster,” Democratic Senator Ben Nelson told reporters after the vote.

Now the House of Representatives must approve the bill and, as the speaker’s staff notes, this will be done in the near future.

Congress was supposed to go on a week-long recess starting Monday, but a protracted dispute over government funding kept lawmakers at work.

Based on materials from RIA Novosti

The US Senate approved government funding