Washington ? Defying a White House veto threat, the House of Representatives on Friday overwhelmingly passed a massive highway and transit bill that is chock full of special projects for lawmakers’ home districts and expected to create thousands of construction jobs.

The lopsided 357-65 vote shows that the bill’s backers have the votes to override a veto. The Senate also passed its version by a veto-proof margin, 76 to 21, on Feb. 12.

The House measure will cost at least $275 billion over six years and probably more because of last-minute additions. Lawmakers included over $11 billion in special projects “earmarked” for their own districts as well as special tax cuts worth $12 billion over ten years.

The White House budget office threatened Tuesday to urge President Bush to veto the measure because he had set a $256 billion ceiling on what he would accept. It would be Bush’s first veto, but he is under pressure, especially from fiscal conservatives, to show Congress he’s ready to take a stand against profligate spending. Given the margin of passage in Congress, a Bush veto would hardly get in the way of lawmakers’ fondness for federal transportation aid, which goes mainly for highways.

“All the parochial payola in this bill gives it Teflon coating,” said Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a fiscal watchdog group in Washington. Ashdown said that members of Young’s committee and lawmakers facing tough reelection fights appeared to benefit most from the measure, which includes over 3200 “earmarked” projects for lawmakers’ districts. Examples:

• $ 1 million to the Florida Keys for habitat protection.
• $1.5 million to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich.
• $5 million for bike paths and pedestrian trials at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Calif.
• $125 million to build a bridge from Gravina Island to Ketchikan, Alaska, represented by committee chairman Young.

Without much notice or debate, lawmakers also added tax cuts for small business costing $12 billion over 10 years.