The House has approved a spending bill that includes a small cut in the General Services Administration's new construction budget for fiscal year 2003, but also provides a sizable increase for the agency's major renovation program.

The House passed the bill, which also funds the Treasury Dept. and U.S. Postal Service, on July 24, by a 308-121 vote.

The measure recommends $646 million for GSA's new construction account, down 2% from the 2002 level. But the measure allots $979 million for GSA's repairs and alterations account, up 13% from this year's mark. GSA has been putting a priority on renovating federal buildings. In the Senate, the Appropriations Committee has cleared a bill that is more generous than the House version. The panel's bill has $654 million for GSA construction and $996 million for repairs and alterations.

In the House-passed measure, the new construction portion of the bill includes site acquisition, design or construction funding for 11 federal courthouse projects:

--Little Rock, courthouse annex, $77.2 million
--San Diego, annex, $23.9 million
--Fort Pierce, Fla., courthouse, $2.7 million
--Cedar Rapids, Iowa, courthouse, $5.2 million
--Jackson, Miss., courthouse, $7.3 million
--Cape Girardeau, Mo., courthouse, $49.3 million
--Brooklyn, N.Y., courthouse annex and post office, $39.5 million
--Eugene, Ore., courthouse, $77.4 million
--Nashville, Tenn., courthouse, $7.1 million
--Austin, Texas, courthouse, $13.8 million
--Salt Lake City, courthouse, $6 million

The largest item in the construction category is a new facility for the U.S. Census Bureau, in Suitland, Md. That project would receive $176.9 million under the House bill. A new building for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City would receive $57.1 million. Six border station projects would receive a total of $32.4 million.

The biggest allocations in the repairs and alterations account are: $96.9 million for the Social Security Administration's operations building in Woodlawn, Md.; $93.2 million for a federal building in Los Angeles; and $68.8 million for the William S. Moorhead Federal Building in Pittsburgh. The "R&A" category also has $20 million to help prevent glass in windows from shattering and $10 million for other anti-terrorism measures.