The Senate's version of the bill also is likely to have the same emphasis because of a desire across Capitol Hill to avoid being perceived as failing to support troops and their families during wartime and in an election year.

"At this time of war, this bill takes care of our military's most important aspect - the people," Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and the lead Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said of the House version.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and the committee's chairman, praised the bill for expanding the range of compensation and support programs "for the most valuable resources of this country - the brave men and women of our armed forces."

Both the House and Senate Armed Services committees hope to complete work this week on their versions of the bill that sets Pentagon policy and spending levels for the budget year that begins Oct. 1.

The House committee was putting the final touches on its version Wednesday. A vote was expected in the evening. The Senate committee hoped to finish by Friday. The House and the Senate aim to pass their measures later this spring.

So far, the House bill calls for authorizing $300 million to fund a 2.7 percent military pay raise. The raise would be 0.5 percentage point more than what the president requested to help lessen the gap between military and private sector salaries. With this raise, lawmakers say the gap would fall from 4.5 percent to 4.0 percent.

Lawmakers long have complained that U.S. troop salaries lag far behind the private sector and have sought to correct the disparity in recent years.

Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., and the chairman of the military personnel subcommittee, said average pay levels will have increased 41 percent over the past 8 years if the House pay raise becomes law.

Objecting to a Bush administration plan, the House bill also would block the Pentagon from increasing health care premiums until Dec. 31, 2007 so that the committee can review recommendations about the best ways to stem the skyrocketing costs of military health care.

The Bush administration had proposed increasing annual enrollment fees for military retirees under age 65. But the House worried the administration was moving too fast on the issue.

Additionally, with recruitment and retention of soldiers a concern of lawmakers during wartime, the House bill would institute higher incentives to help keep the ranks filled.

It would authorize an additional $100 million for Army recruiting and retention bonuses; $100 million for the Army Reserve to fund Army-wide basic officer courses; and $59 million for Air National Guard bonuses.

Lawmakers long have been pushing the Pentagon to grow its forces to ensure the military is large enough to fight the current wars and prepare for future conflicts.

In that vein, the bill would permit the military to increase the number of active-duty Army by 30,000 - or 6 percent beyond what the president requested - and Marines by 5,000 - or 3 percent more than Bush sought.

In another area, the House bill would increase spending levels to correct what Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., and the readiness subcommittee chairman, called a dangerous underfunding by the Pentagon in numerous operations, maintenance and training areas.

The Pentagon, he said, was putting its effort transform the military in the future ahead of the current need to be ready for current conflicts. Hefley called the bill a "careful balancing of both those priorities."

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