Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House voted to lift a quarter-century ban on offshore oil drilling and provide the auto industry with $25 billion in loans as part of a year-end spending bill funding the federal government.

The legislation, approved 370 to 58, would provide more than $600 billion for the departments of defense, homeland security and veterans' affairs, each of which would receive at least 5 percent budget increases. Most of the rest of the government would get funding at current levels until March 6. The bill, which now goes to the Senate, also includes money for thousands of pet projects known as earmarks.

The measure drew protests from Republicans who said Democrats gave them less than 24 hours to read it. With its accompanying explanatory statements, it runs more than 1,000 pages. It provides almost two-thirds of all appropriations approved each year by Congress.

``Congress is being forced to approve a package that was created in a backroom by a handful of Democrat leaders and staff,'' said Representative Jerry Lewis, the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee. ``Very few people have any idea what is in it.''

The legislation, which the Senate probably will approve this week, would bring an end to Democrats' budget fights with President George W. Bush. He threatened in his State of the Union address to veto any spending bill that didn't halve earmarks and abide by his overall spending limits. Democrats balked, threatening to postpone work on the legislation until Bush leaves office if he didn't reconsider.

Split the Difference

Lawmakers split the difference, saying they will send Bush the three defense-related bills and reconsider other departments' budgets after the November election.

``We will kick the can down the road,'' said Obey. ``The president said `my levels or no levels' so he gave us no choice unless, of course, we wanted to capitulate. So, by not finishing these bills, we maintain the possibility of providing more support for medical research, more support for energy research, more support for education.''

The decision to rescind the oil drilling ban, hailed by Republicans, would allow exploration three miles beyond U.S. shores except for areas off the Gulf coast of Florida. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said the new policy could be short-lived if Democrats win the White House in November.

`Thumb Your Nose'

``You get the impression in listening to the majority that it is their intent to restore these moratoria at a later time this year,'' McConnell said in a news conference today. An ``effort to sort of thumb your nose at public opinion as soon as the inconvenience of the election gets out of the way strikes us as not being very responsible.''

The legislation would boost the Defense Department's budget by 6 percent to $488 billion. Homeland security funding would grow by 5 percent to $40 billion. Veterans' affairs would get a 14 percent boost to $73 billion.

The bill also includes $23 billion in emergency funding, including money to help Gulf Coast states rebuild after hurricanes and $365 million in aid to Georgia to help it recover from its conflict with Russia. Other provisions would give federal employees a 3.9 percent pay increase, boost funding for Pell education grants by $2 billion and extend the government's flood insurance program beyond its Sept. 30 expiration date while lawmakers debate how to revamp the program.

`Unscrutinized' Package

Earmark critics said Democrats were ducking an election-year debate on the projects by pushing the legislation through on short notice while lawmakers focus on a separate $700 billion Bush administration plan to calm the financial markets. Steve Ellis, vice president of the Washington-based Taxpayers for Common Sense, said his group counted more than 2,300 earmarks in the legislation costing $6.6 billion.

``These earmarks have never been exposed to one iota of public scrutiny and now will jam through the House after literally just a few hours of daylight,'' Ellis said. ``With a $700 billion bailout understandably distracting the nation's attention, what better time to cram an unscrutinized $600 billion spending package through.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Faler in Washington at bfaler@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 24, 2008 17:00 EDT