WASHINGTON — A bill to give President Bush greater power to try to kill"pork barrel"spending projects faces big challenges in the Senate despite an impressive bipartisan House vote.

The House voted Thursday to give Bush and his successor a weaker version of the line-item veto law struck down by the Supreme Court in 1998, despite a recent series of lopsided votes in which lawmakers have rallied to preserve each other's back-home projects. It would expire after six years.

The idea advances amid increasing public concern about lawmakers'penchant for stuffing parochial projects into spending bills that the president must accept or reject in their entirety.

The House passed the bill by a 247-172 vote. Thirty-five Democrats joined with most Republicans in voting for the bill; 15 Republicans opposed the measure and others voted for the bill despite private reservations.

The measure must still pass the Senate, and that's by no means a certainty. Democrats generally oppose the idea and Republicans such as Robert Bennett of Utah have their doubts.

Rob Portman, the White House budget director, said the House vote should help prod the Senate, where 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, D-Mass., is a co-sponsor.

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"With the combination of Senator John Kerry supporting it and a number of House Democrats, it gives us better prospects for passage in the Senate,"Portman said.

The bill would allow the president to single out items contained in appropriations bills he signs into law, and it would require Congress to vote on those items again. It also could be used against increases in benefit programs and tax breaks aimed at a single beneficiary.

A simple majority in both the House and the Senate could override items despite the president's objections.

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