House overwhelmingly passes supplemental spending bill

By CNN Capitol Hill Producer Ted Barrett

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The House late Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a $6.5 billion supplemental spending bill for this fiscal year, the bulk of which will go to the military. The White House had requested the bill, which passed 341-87, with a handful of members not voting.

Democrats tried to amend the bill to include price caps for wholesale electricity prices in the West, but the effort failed. Democrats also tried to strip the IRS of money being used to mail taxpayers notifications of their tax rebates, but that amendment also failed.

In addition, Democrats attempted to restore almost $400 million to the budget of the Federal Emergency Management Agency that they claimed was cut by Republicans, despite mounting FEMA bills in the wake of Tropical Storm Allison.

Republicans accused Democrats of trying to stir up political trouble over the cuts, which they promised would not affect FEMA's ability to respond to natural disasters, in part, because the money is being diverted to other agencies -- such as the Forest Service -- to be spent on disaster response.

House Republicans defended the cuts despite the Bush administration's opposition to the money being taken away from FEMA.

Pro-defense members complained the $5.5 billion in extra money for the Pentagon was insufficient. The extra money will be used to pay for higher energy and health care costs for the military, as well repair to the USS Cole and a salvage mission for the Japanese fishing trawler, which was accidentally struck and sunk by a U.S. submarine.

The bill includes $300 million for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, a $150 million increase over President Bush's request.

The measure now moves on to the Senate.