By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) - The House voted Tuesday to approve a scaled-back $59 billion emergency spending bill that provides funds for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The House approved the bill on a 308 to 114 vote. More than 100 House Democrats voted against the bill because of their opposition to the wars and because it did not include some domestic funds that were in earlier versions of the bill.

Since the Senate approved an identical version of the legislation last week, the bill will go to President Obama for his signature.

The House considered the measure under the suspension calender which meant the bill was debated for 40 minutes and amendments were prohibited.

To pass, the bill required a two-thirds majority of House members.

Before the July 4th recess, the House passed an $82 billion emergency spending bill, which included $37 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and $22 billion to prevent a wave of teacher layoffs.

The Senate approved a $59 billion emergency bill last week that didn't include the education funds.

Congressional leaders said that it's critical to get the emergency spending funds approved for the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Pentagon leaders said the emergency funds will be needed in the coming weeks.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said earlier in the day that the war funding debate should be distinct from future policy debates on American policy in Afghanistan.

House Democrats are hoping to begin their summer recess this Friday and are not scheduled to return to Washington until Sept. 14.

Before then, Democrats want to pass two fiscal year 2011 spending bills: the Military Construction-VA spending bill and the Transportation-HUD spending bill.

So far, none of the 12 FY'11 spending bills have been approved by either the House or Senate.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **