Washington — The U.S. House of Representatives approved this afternoon a $555-billion budget package for 2008 that includes less-generous amounts for academic research and student aid than previous bills favored by Democratic leaders in Congress had contained. The sprawling measure, which the Senate passed on Tuesday, now heads to President Bush, who is expected to sign it.

Passage of the bill follows a month of tense negotiations between Congress and the president, who refused to sign any bill that exceeded his budget request. Ultimately, lawmakers were forced to shave millions of dollars from their proposed appropriations for domestic programs. Among the cuts: nearly $1-billion from the budget for the National Institutes of Health, which is the largest single source of funds for university research.

Under the bill, HR 2764, the maximum Pell grant, which is now $4,310, would be trimmed to $4,241, although the actual award would rise to $4,731 once funds from a student-aid bill enacted in September are included. The earlier measure provided enough money for a $490 increase above the maximum in the bill approved today. The new omnibus appropriations bill would finance every federal agency except the Pentagon for the 2008 fiscal year, which began October 1.

Funds for the TRIO and Gear Up programs, which prepare low-income students for college, would be frozen at 2007 levels, while spending would drop on several other student-aid programs, including Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Perkins Loans, and the Leveraging Education Assistance Program, or LEAP.

Science programs and research would also take a substantial hit. The director of the federally supported Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, in Illinois, warned in an article in today’s Chicago Tribune that the laboratory may have to shut down for a month or more and suspend some research if the bill is signed into law. —Kelly Field