By Eric Schelkopf

The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved an emergency spending bill that will allow Fermilab to continue its research.

By a vote of 92-6, the U.S. Senate passed the emergency supplemental spending bill that includes $400 million in funding for critical science programs.

The U.S. House approved the measure last week.

The legislation provides $62.5 million for the Office of Science to ensure that Fermilab, Argonne and other scientific facilities are able to continue their research and retain staff.

Another $62.5 million is appropriated for the National Science Foundation to continue critical research, a portion of which will benefit both Illinois laboratories.

“Today, Congress has shown its support for the critical research at Fermi, Argonne and science labs across the country,” said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

In December 2007, Congress cut Fermilab’s budget from the $372 million requested by the Department of Energy to $320 million, $22 million less than the laboratory received in 2007.

An anonymous $5 million donation, made to the University of Chicago in May, ensured that employees at Fermilab no longer would need to take unpaid leave.

The donation was made with the stipulation that it be used toward the development of future programs in particle physics.

But the lab offered severance packages to 750 employees earlier this month as a first step toward reducing the laboratory’s workforce by about 140 employees.

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Geneva, a former Fermilab scientist, pushed for the additional funding.

“It is my sincere hope that President Bush quickly signs this bill into law so that some of our nation’s best and brightest scientists can retain their jobs and continue their critical research,” Foster said.

Fermilab is the nation’s premier high-energy physics laboratory.

The bill will be sent to President Bush for his signature.