Voting 336-89 shortly after midnight, the Republican-led House approved the spending bill for next fiscal year starting on Oct. 1 that also provides up to $1.3 billion in additional funds to cope with natural disasters.
In action on the bill last week, the House voted to force the Bush administration to adopt a tough standard against arsenic in tap water that former President Bill Clinton set in his final days in office.
President George W. Bush had suspended the rule that greatly reduced allowable levels of cancer-causing arsenic that is found in many water systems, saying more scientific review was needed.
The Democratic-led Senate has not yet taken up its version of the bill, but environmental groups said they were optimistic it would support the House action on arsenic that they viewed as a sharp rebuke of Bush's policies on the environment.
Supports Space Station
The House, on a voice vote, rejected an amendment to cap U.S. spending on the international space stations that faces $4 billion in overruns in the next five years and has cost tens of billions more than originally anticipated.
Rep. Tim Roemer, an Indiana Democrat and a long-time critic of the project, pushed to cap money to complete the half-finished station at $25 billion and cover launch costs at $17 billion, while barring NASA from shifting money from human space travel to meet construction overruns.
``The science is dwindling; the cost is going through the roof,'' Roemer said.
But other lawmakers said putting such restrictions on NASA would waste the money the United States and other countries have invested over the years in the space station, and doom it to failure.
``One way to ensure that it is not a major achievement for mankind'' was to pass the budget limit, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, said.
The House bill also wipes out money for the Americorps program that rewards community service with help toward tuition for college and job training programs.
$1.3 Billion for Fema
But both Republicans and Democrats said they expected the Senate to restore the funds before the bill goes to Bush.
Bush asked for $411 million for the program, which was a favorite of Clinton's, who got $428 million for it last year.
The House bill provides up to an additional $1.3 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to replenish funds drained by damage from Tropical Storm Allison that pummeled the Texas-Louisiana coast last month and to prepare for hurricane season.
The Senate's version of the bill, which has not yet reached the floor, provides up to $2 billion for FEMA and lets the administration determine how much of the money is used.
Democrats said the additional FEMA money put the bill over budget limits that Republicans set to make room for their $1.35 trillion 10-year tax cut, but Republicans said little of the money may actually be used.
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