House Approves Modified Version of Line Item Veto : Congress: The bill would allow either chamber to overturn a presidential cutback of an individual spending program.

Responding to public concern over rising deficits, the House approved a modified version of a line item veto Saturday that would allow a President to reject individual spending programs and force Congress to approve them again by majority vote.

The unprecedented measure, which sailed through by a vote of 312 to 97, apparently has no chance of becoming law this year. Even so, both Democratic and Republican leaders said the vote signaled easy passage again when the 103rd Congress convenes next year, regardless of which party occupies the White House.

“I think it will chart a course,” Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) said as Congress held a rare weekend session on the road to adjournment scheduled for early next week.

In other developments Saturday:

-- Congress gave final approval to a $274-billion defense bill that would authorize $7 billion less than President Bush requested and $16.4 billion less than the level of the past fiscal year. The House passed the bill by a vote of 304 to 100 and the Senate sent it to the White House by voice vote.

-- The House adopted a Senate-passed bill that would require military hospitals overseas to provide abortions to servicewomen and military dependents at their own expense. Bush said in advance that he would veto the measure, which the House approved 220 to 186.

-- Congress approved and sent to the President a $245-billion measure to provide appropriations for the labor, education and health and human services departments for the coming year. The House passed the bill by 363 to 47 and the Senate approved it by voice vote.

-- Senate-House negotiators approved $14 billion in foreign aid, but cut off $2.4 million in military training assistance for Indonesia because of its reported involvement in a massacre in East Timor last November. The measure was cleared for a House vote today in a rare Sunday session.

-- A bill that would allow medical research using fetal tissue from abortions languished in the Senate because of opposition by a dozen senators, despite an 85-12 vote to shut off debate. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), chief sponsor of the bill, appealed to President Bush to intervene in hopes of rescuing the measure but acknowledged: “It’s an uphill battle.”

-- Acting with unusual bipartisan support, the House gave final congressional endorsement to a bill authorizing aid to Russia, including a $12.3-billion U.S. contribution to the International Monetary Fund, which will coordinate Russian aid.

In addition to a few remaining appropriations bills, Congress is trying to pass a wide-ranging energy bill and an urban aid-tax bill before quitting for the year. With members anxious about getting back home to meet voters before the Nov. 3 election, the outlook for final passage of the energy and tax bills remains uncertain.

The House scheduled a Sunday session to consider the energy bill while the Senate recessed until Monday after a brief Saturday meeting without roll call votes.

“Monday will be the longest day to try to finish what’s left,” House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) told his weary colleagues near the windup of business on Saturday.

In one of its final actions, however, the House moved toward Bush’s position on the line item veto.

The modified bill was a compromise between those who wanted a line item veto requiring a two-thirds majority of Congress to override White House rejection of an item, and those who opposed any change in the President’s veto power. The legislation provides for a two-year trial period.

Under current law, the President may propose to cancel spending approved by Congress, but both the House and Senate must go along with the proposal within 45 days or it does not take effect. Inaction, therefore, works against the executive.

Here’s how the new House-passed plan would work:

-- Within three days after signing an appropriations bill, the President could propose to block spending entirely for programs never authorized by Congress, and could cut 25% of funds from programs that were authorized in the regular process.

-- Within 10 days, either the Senate or the House must vote on the proposed cutback. If both the House and Senate agree with the President, the cutback would be approved. But if a majority of either body disagrees, the President is overturned and the funds must be spent.

Proponents said the procedure would allow the chief executive to weed out wasteful spending slipped into a multibillion-dollar appropriations bill without rejecting the entire measure.

Despite the House’s overwhelming approval, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has strongly opposed any such legislation and may be able to block its consideration by the Senate.

Opponents warned that it would shift the power of the purse--traditionally held by Congress--to the White House and might become a weapon a President could use to intimidate opponents on Capitol Hill.

Foley and the House Democratic leadership added their support to the legislation after backers signed up more than 225 co-sponsors, more than a majority of the House.

President Bush and his Democratic opponent, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, both support another version of the line item veto that would require Congress to muster a two-thirds vote to override the chief executive on any spending item he has rejected.

But Foley and other leaders in Congress have argued that would shift the constitutional balance of power to the executive branch and reduce the legislative branch’s influence over spending.