WASHINGTON—The House voted Saturday to provide back pay to furloughed federal workers once the partial government shutdown ends, the latest in a rapid-fire series of spending measures designed to minimize the effects of the closure.
The vote was 407-0. The White House has come out in support of guaranteeing retroactive pay, one of the few moments of agreement between the parties in the crisis.
The Senate doesn't yet have the agreement needed to approve the measure this weekend, and the timing of any final passage remained unclear.
Despite the unanimous House move, there was little signal of any broader agreement on ways to end the shutdown, which reached its fifth day Saturday.
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) walked back to his office immediately after the vote, leaving House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) to explain at a news conference that Republicans were holding firm to their position.
Republicans have sought to delay or defund President Barack Obama's health-care law as a condition for reopening the government, something that Democrats have rejected. Republicans question whether Mr. Obama or Democrats are prepared to negotiate.
"This shutdown has been brought about by the president's unwillingness to sit down and talk with members of Congress," Mr. Cantor said. "This administration has been almost absent when it comes to discussions and working out our differences, and we're going to stay focused on trying to ease the pain of this shutdown."
Democrats criticized House Republicans for bringing piecemeal bills rather than a single measure to return all of the federal government to work. They said the Saturday measure meant that hundreds of thousands of federal workers would ultimately be paid despite being idle.
"We are going to pay all the federal employees, as we should, but we're going to pay them to stay at home," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.), summarizing what he said was the Republican policy. "It's an absolutely absurd position."
The vote came as House Democrats made another offer that showed little sign of being the magic bullet to break the impasse. Mrs. Pelosi said that if Republicans approve a bill to reopen the government temporarily and the parties open talks on a longer-term budget, the House Democrats would waive certain procedural rights during those future budget negotiations. A spokesman for Mr. Boehner didn't comment directly on the offer but said Democrats were blocking progress on reopening the government.
House lawmakers on both sides said the decision to make sure government workers get paid while being furloughed was the right one.
"Finally, a moment of decency," said Rep. Gerald Connolly (D., Va.), whose district has many federal workers. With the vote, "we alleviate the angst on whether there will be that paycheck whenever we get around to reopening the government."
Federal workers "shouldn't be the innocent pawns in the middle of a debate caused by us unable to work with the Senate," said Rep. Blake Farenthold (R., Texas), whose district is home to a naval air station. "We're ready, willing and able to talk but we need to ratchet down the rhetoric a little bit [and] make sure our employees get paid."
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed since Tuesday because Republicans and Democrats in Congress can't agree on the terms for keeping the government funded. The result has been the closure of national parks and less visible problems like a slowdown in home sales and refinancings, which typically can only be completed after the Internal Revenue Service provides lenders with tax forms to verify borrowers' income.
Republicans say Democrats appear to be unwilling to negotiate any terms for spending or debt levels. Democrats say they will open talks as soon as Republicans reopen the entire federal government and raise the U.S. borrowing limit, which is expected to hit a ceiling in mid-October unless Congress acts.
