A bill passed by the House of Representatives that would grantback pay to furloughed federal employees in the government shutdownhas stalled in the Senate.

The Democratic-controlled Senate has yet to vote on the bill,which passed 407-0 in the Republican-controlled House onSaturday.

Under the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act,“federal employees furloughed as a result of any lapse inappropriations which begins on or about October 1, 2013, shall becompensated at their standard rate of compensation, for the periodof such lapse in appropriations, as soon as practicable after suchlapse in appropriations ends.”

In the meantime, many credit unions have offered assistance tofederal employees affected by the shutdown including low interest loans and covering direct deposits.

The House version of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Moran(D-Va.), had 177 co-sponsors. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) sponsored thelegislation in the Senate, which currently has 27 co-sponsors.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) labeled thelegislation “cruel” after it passed the House.

“It's really cruel to tell workers that they'll receive back payonce the government opens and then refuse to open the government,”Reid said Saturday.

“What they're telling all these federal workers: 'What we'regoing to do for you now, even though we don't like federal workersand we haven't given you a raise in three years, what we're goingto do now is give you a paid vacation,'” the Nevada senator alsosaid.

Even though the bill has not been put to a vote yet in theSenate, Cardin's office said the bill is still a priority forReid.

“Senator Cardin has talked to Leader Reid. The bill remains apriority,” a spokesperson for Cardin told Credit UnionTimes on Wednesday.

The spokesperson was not aware of a timeframe for a vote on thelegislation. Reid's office did not respond to a request forcomment.

The partial government shutdown began on Oct. 1.