The U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday approved a final $422 billion bill for defense programs that backs next year's round of military base closings and kills a proposed $23.5 billion Air Force deal with Boeing Co. The House passed the final bill 359-14, sending it to the Senate, which was expected to vote to send the legislation to President George W. Bush before Congress breaks next week to campaign for Nov. 2 presidential and congressional elections. Bowing to a White House veto threat, the final bill dropped a bid by House members to stall by two years the process to start closing and realigning domestic military bases deemed obsolete or unnecessary. House members initially voted for the delay as lawmakers whose districts' economies may depend heavily on the bases argued they should not be cut while U.S. forces were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lawmakers also said the Pentagon should first look at overseas bases before trimming domestic facilities. The Pentagon is to issue a list next May of domestic bases that could be closed, which will then be reviewed by an independent commission before being sent to the president. Base closings also were a potent political issue in the Senate, which on a narrow 49-47 vote backed the scheduled round of closings in the face of the veto threat. The House passed the defense bill a day after House and Senate negotiators finished work to resolve differences in their versions of the legislation.
