The passage followed the White House's renewed threat for President Barack Obama to veto a bill for fiscal 2010, starting Oct. 1, if it includes money to continue producing the F-22.

Last week, the Senate passed its version of the annual funding bill after stripping out money for the F-22, despite Japan's hopes for acquiring the Lockheed Martin Corp.-built aircraft as the country's next-generation mainstay fighter.

In its defense spending bill, the House preserved $485 million for a new presidential helicopter and $560 million for an alternative engine for the F-22 successor, the F-35.

After the Senate ends action on its final defense spending bill for fiscal 2010 in September, both chambers will have to resolve any differences and send a unified bill to Obama.

Tokyo has been studying six models as successor aircraft to its aging F-4EJ fighter fleet and is eager to acquire the F-22, among other models, as its next-generation mainstay fighter aircraft in light of the stealth jet's ability to evade radar detection.

But export of the F-22 is currently prohibited under U.S. law, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in April proposed halting production of the fighter jet.

Under Gates' proposal, production of the F-22 would be halted at 187 planes. The Pentagon instead wants to produce 500 of the more modern F-35 aircraft over the next five years and 2,400 over time.

The proposal was met with strong opposition in Congress. Being manufactured in or getting supplies from 44 different states, the F-22 drew wide support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.