It also passed - no small feat - all 13 spending bills to finance Government departments and agencies.

Most of the spending bills to finance the various departments and agencies in the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1 have still not been enacted.

Republicans instead said that if Democrats blocked the omnibus bill, they would push through a resolution financing the affected departments and agencies at last year's levels.

Today, the House began debate on a $92 billion bill financing the Veterans Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and other agencies.

Last week the House approved a $37 billion measure to finance several federal agencies, which also included a provision to restore the 35 percent limit.

Only adequately financed national and international agencies like the World Health Organization, which eradicated smallpox, are in a position to undertake this work.

For some poorly financed agencies, survival may be at stake; all have a chance to dispute their scores in the next two weeks.

That provision has tied up the $23.2 billion bill financing the Treasury Department, the Postal Service and various other agencies, including the White House.

The aim of this directive is not to set up a new office, but to introduce a legal framework for systematically financing standardisation offices and agencies.

In the past, the federal housing department financed agencies for all the vouchers they were allowed to issue, based on actual costs.