The Senate, which is controlled by the Democrat party, passed by 81 votes to 18 a measure that extends the Treasury's authority to borrow until February 7. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed it by 285 votes to 144. Seen as a victory on the part of President Obama's Democrats and a defeat for the Republicans - in particular their Tea Party faction, which saw the budget crisis as an opportunity to undermine the President's health care, the vote signalled a return to work for hundreds of thousands of US government employees.