Washington ? The Senate rejected Democratic efforts to boost anti-terrorism spending for big cities Tuesday and approved legislation financing the Homeland Security department next year.

The price tag of the measure grew to about $36 billion as senators bowed to pressure from farm-state lawmakers and added $3 billion to help growers and livestock producers, mostly in the Midwest, suffering from drought.

The overall measure was approved 93-0. The Senate must next work out a compromise with the House, which passed its version of the legislation in June.

The bill provides federal aid for anti-terror efforts by local police, fire and emergency-responder departments, as well as to the government’s border security, immigration and other domestic security programs. Overall, the measure would exceed President Bush’s request for such programs by more than $1 billion.

With elections less than two months off, Democrats were hoping the GOP would find it painful to vote against a series of amendments to boost security spending. But for the most part, Republicans fended off such amendments, such as one by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., to add $625 million to the $875 million in the bill for cities considered at high risk of terrorist attacks.

“My sense is Democrats are proposing them for political purposes,” Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said in an interview. “We need a balance between providing money for homeland security and keeping deficits from going higher.”

“I don’t know why there isn’t a political price to pay,” said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. “I think in part they think the American people aren’t watching.”