The House of Representatives voted 407 to 0 to pay an estimated 800,000 federal workers retroactively when the federal government starts back up again.
The bipartisan measure already has the support of the White House, which has rejected other House bills as "piecemeal."
Furloughed workers got similar consideration under shutdowns in the Reagan and Clinton eras, noted Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va.
House Speaker John Boehner applauded passage of the bill, contending its the 8th bill the House has passed "to keep critical parts of the government running in the face of President Obama and Senate Democrats’ refusal to negotiate."
“It’s encouraging to see both parties come together to provide fairness for the 800,000 federal workers hurt by this shutdown," Boehner said. "Now we should do something about the 800,000 jobs being destroyed by the president’s health care law. That’s why Republicans are working every day to reopen the government and provide fairness for all.”
Obama told the Associated Press in an interview released Saturday that he won't negotiate on the health care bill until the government shutdown ends, and he called on Boehner to allow a vote on a clean bill, saying there are enough Republicans and Democrats who'd vote for it.
Two hundred members of the Democratic caucus wrote to Boehner Saturday, saying the "solution to this crisis is a simple piece of legislation that funds the government at levels that have already passed both chambers of Congress."