Nuts and Bolts of Bill

Most of the increase -- $625 million -- will go to the FBI to improve its counterterrorism and counterintelligence programs and to revamp its antiquated technology systems. At $5.2 billion, the bureau's rapidly growing budget dwarfs other Justice agencies.

Other winners include the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration, although the White House had asked for slightly more than DEA received. Republicans also highlighted about $3 billion that was set aside in the Justice budget for assistance to state and local law enforcement agencies, including money to reduce backlogs in DNA analysis of criminal evidence. But Democrats were unsuccessful in their attempts to rescue Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants for local police officers, which were virtually eliminated in the new budget.

The bill provides $10 million for COPS, down from $395 million three years ago, officials said.

Gun control groups and Justice officials also were disappointed that the final bill included no money for Project Safe Neighborhoods, a federal program aimed at illegal weapon prosecutions. The administration had requested $100 million for the program.

SCIENCE

The National Science Foundation, a major conduit for government funding for basic research in science and technology, science education and construction and maintenance of scientific installations such as the U.S. outpost at the South Pole, was funded for $5.5 billion for 2005, $105 million below 2004 and $278 million below Bush's request.

Even though the cut was 1.88 percent below last year it was the largest dollar loss NSF has suffered in its 54-year history. House Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman James T. Walsh (R-N.Y.) nonetheless said he was happy "that we didn't have to cut more."

The biggest single hits came in NSF's research grants ($30 million) and science education programs ($30 million). In most areas, conferees left it up to NSF to determine how it wanted to spread the misery.

NASA earned two special distinctions for 2005. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's threat to scuttle the omnibus bill unless Congress fully funded Bush's "Vision for Space Exploration" to the moon and Mars made the agency the last potential "deal breaker" of the spending negotiations.

And because DeLay (R-Tex.) won the day, NASA became one of the few non-security-related federal agencies to earn a raise -- to $16.2 billion, 5.6 percent over 2004.

The money advantage may prove illusory, however, because NASA now has obligations it did not anticipate in its original budget proposal: to prepare the space shuttle; to repair the Hubble Space Telescope; and to pay for 149 earmarked projects, including everything from $1.75 million for photonics research at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, to $1 million for the Virginia Air and Space Museum, in Norfolk.

STATE

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell in the past has used his star power to win big increases in funding for the State Department and related foreign-policy initiatives. Although he didn't get as much as he wanted for certain key programs, he did manage to snare some funding increases.

The White House, for instance, asked for $2.5 billion to fund the Millennium Challenge Account, its innovative program to tie development aid overseas to progress in good governance by selected countries. This would have been a huge increase over the $650 million provided in 2004, and Congress ended up providing $1.5 billion -- a notable achievement anyway, because that was significantly higher than the amount passed by the House or Senate.

Similarly, the president's proposal to double funding for the National Endowment for Democracy, from $40 million to $80 million, was trimmed back to a 50 percent increase -- $60 million.

Congress mandated that other agencies begin sharing the costs of security upgrades in embassies where they have personnel.

TRANSPORTATION

The Department of Transportation spending fell 5 percent, to $43.9 billion, from $46.1 billion in fiscal 2004. The spending bill included an amendment that blocks the Bush administration's plans to give Mexican trucks a two-year grace period to comply with U.S. safety regulations and standards, which passed with bipartisan support in the House. Federal highways received $35.5 billion, or $1.9 billion more than in fiscal 2004.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which already took funding hits this year, will receive $13.6 billion, $219 million less than in fiscal 2004. But air traffic controllers, who have pressed to get more controllers hired as many are expected to retire soon, will benefit from $9.5 million more than the administration had requested. Amtrak, the national passenger railroad that is plagued with financial problems and bridge and infrastructure deficiencies, will receive $1.2 billion, $300 million more than the administration requested.

Contributing to this report were staff writers Justin Blum, Ceci Connolly, Michael Dobbs, Dan Eggen, Brian Faler, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Guy Gugliotta, Amy Joyce, Glenn Kessler, Christopher Lee, John Mintz, Dan Morgan, Thomas E. Ricks, Judy Sarasohn, Shankar Vedantam and Jonathan Weisman.