May 15 (Bloomberg) -- Anti-war Democrats and Republicans who objected to Democratic tactics in the U.S. House defeated a measure to provide $163 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan until next summer.

Lawmakers rejected the measure by a 149 to 141 vote today with more than 130 members voting ``present.'' Many Democrats have refused to support spending on a war that they oppose, and Republicans opposed the legislation because the process limited their usual opportunity to offer alternate legislation.

``This is a $200 billion spending bill in which Republicans were shut out of the process,'' said Republican Tom Davis of Virginia, who voted present.

Some anti-war Democrats cheered, shouting, ``The war is over.''

The result came as a surprise to Democratic leaders, who had expected Republicans to help carry the legislation. The rejection leaves funding for the war in limbo. The Senate may replace the money when it considers the measure, maybe as soon as next week.

The government has enough money to pay for the war through July under current law, said Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Democratic leaders will decide later whether to try to bring the spending measure up for another vote.

Democrats knew before the vote that many in their party, including Pelosi, would vote against the war funding.

``We always said this would pass or fail based on Republican votes,'' Elshami said.

In a second vote, the House agreed to require U.S. troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq within 30 days, with a goal of completing the redeployment by December 2009. The House also agreed to a measure to spend more than $20 billion on international aid and domestic programs and extend unemployment benefits for jobless Americans.

Educational Benefits

The legislation includes a boost in educational benefits for military veterans and a surcharge tax on individual income above $500,000 a year to pay for the veterans' program.

President George W. Bush has threatened to veto the legislation, citing the domestic spending, the troop withdrawal plan and the tax measure.

White House Budget Director Jim Nussle released a statement saying Democrats ``blocked a clean war funding bill for our troops.''

``Instead they insisted on tax increases, higher spending, and tying the hands of our military commanders,'' Nussle said.

Republicans said that while they support funding for the wars, they objected to the withdrawal requirements imposed by Democrats.

``We felt like they should pass the spending portion with their own votes,'' said Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican.

One of the measures approved by the House would ban the use of torture and subject contractors to prosecution for violating U.S. laws. The provision would ban the U.S. from establishing permanent military bases in Iraq and requires the country to match U.S. spending on reconstruction dollar for dollar.

Deploying Troops

In addition, it prohibits the Pentagon from deploying troops for longer than its guidelines recommend and requires troops to be given ``adequate time between deployments.''

The House also voted to provide more than $10 billion in foreign aid, including money for disaster, food and refugee relief. The foreign aid is about $1.7 billion more than Bush requested.

Uunemployment benefits would be extended by 13 weeks in all states and an additional 13 weeks in states with particularly high unemployment. The bill also would increase educational benefits for war veterans during the next two years.

The cost of the expanded educational benefits would rise to $51.6 billion over 10 years, Democrats said. The veteran benefits will be paid for with a 0.5 percent tax surcharge on annual income above $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for married couples.

To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Stern in Washington at cstern3@bloomberg.net; Laura Litvan in Washington at o njohnston3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 15, 2008 17:15 EDT