Washington ? House Republicans are famously loyal to President Bush. But it was no contest Friday when they had to choose between the wishes of the president and one of the chamber’s most venerated members – coupled with a chance to beat up on the U.N.

The House, on a 221-184 vote, approved legislation offered by Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., that would automatically withhold half of U.S. assessed dues to the United Nations if the organization failed to carry out an overhaul including some four dozen specific changes.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan “believes that U.S. engagement and leadership in this process is very important but does not feel that withholding dues is a productive route to achieving reform,” his spokesman Fred Eckhard said in a statement.

The White House, while applauding the House for its effort to improve U.N. operations, opposed the Hyde bill, saying that trying to force change by withholding the money could be counterproductive.

In the end, 213 of 220 voting Republicans sided with Hyde, partly because of growing anger with what they view as the U.N.’s corruption and anti-American positions but also because of their respect for Hyde, the chairman of the International Relations Committee.

“The gentleman from Illinois has shown us the way,” House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said of the 81-year old Hyde who is retiring next year after 32 years in Congress. With passage, DeLay said, “every man, woman and child on this planet will owe a great debt of gratitude to Henry J. Hyde.”

Hyde, a conservative who wins strong praise from Democrats for his fairhandedness and eloquence, chaired the House Judiciary Committee during the Clinton impeachment proceedings.

“History shows that when Congress stands tough, when it says that if you don’t reform we are not going to pay, then change occurs,” Hyde said in defense of the bill, named the Henry J. Hyde U.N. Reform Act.