The leaders of a Senate panel announced today that they have overcome an earlier dispute and reached an agreement to significantly boost automotive fuel efficiency standards for vehicles in the decades to come.

Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, cosponsored a bill (S 357) by Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that would increase the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2019 for the entire fleet of vehicles, including sport utility vehicles and other “light trucks.”

The chairman had planned to mark up the bill last week but was forced to postpone due to a split with ranking Republican Ted Stevens of Alaska over how, and whether, to address light trucks. Stevens has his own CAFE bill (S 183) that would set stricter requirements for passenger cars but would not alter the current system for light trucks.

The deal — released in the form of a joint Inouye-Stevens amendment to Feinstein’s bill — not only includes light trucks in a single fleetwide standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, but would also codify a 4 percent annual increase in the standards in subsequent years.

Automakers currently must maintain an overall average of 27.5 mpg for passenger vehicles. and 20.7 mpg for light trucks.