WASHINGTON, March 16 (Xinhuanet) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow hailed Thursday the approval by the Senate to raise the national debt limit by 781 billion dollars to nearly nine trillion dollars.

    "I commend Congress for protecting the full faith and credit of the United States with today's action on the debt limit," Snow said in a statement.

    "This legislation ensures that the US can deliver on promises already made, such as Social Security and Medicare payments and aid for the victims of the 2005 hurricanes," he said.

    The Senate passed the bill by a 52-48 vote to raise the national debt limit from the current level of 8.184 trillion dollars. The bill now goes to President George W. Bush for his signature.

    The approval meant that the Bush administration would be able to pay for the war in Iraq and finance Medicare and other big federal programs without raising taxes.

    This was the fourth time that the national debt limit had been increased since Bush took office five years ago. The previous actions were taken in June 2002, March 2003 and November 2004 respectively. The limit has been increased by a total of 3 trillion dollars.

    On Monday, the Bush administration urged Congress to raise the national debt limit before it leaves at the end of this week for a spring recess.

    "It's really the week this must be done because the Congress will be out of session at the end of this week," Treasury spokesman Tony Fratto said at a weekly briefing.

    U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow has issued increasing warnings to Congress that the current national debt limit would be soon reached and new issues of federal debt instruments would only raise enough cash to keep government operations financed until mid-March.

    Once the administration hits the national debt limit, it comes under threat of defaulting on its debts and can lost the ability to raise future credit on the capital market. Enditem