By Bryan Sierra

WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI). The House approved a sweeping foreign affairs bill Thursday that calls for deep cuts in U.S. aid overseas and a unilateral lifting of the arms embargo against the Bosnian government. The House voted 222-192 in favor of the American Overseas Interests Act, which consolidates three key foreign aid agencies into the State Department and sets conditions for U.S. assistance.

President Clinton has already indicated he would veto the measure if it reaches his desk in present form. The House added the lifting of the U.S. arms embargo on Bosnia at the last minute, after Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., defied House leadership and offered the measure to be included in a series of amendments sponsored by Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., the chairman of the House International Relations Committee.

Hoyer said a lifting of the arms embargo was needed to help the Muslim-led Bosnian government defend itself against the better-armed Bosnian Serbs. "We in America have a serious national interest in helping the people of Bosnia," Hoyer said. "This is a recognized member of the United Nations, and we have an interest, as we did with Kuwait, in seeing that it is not destroyed."

Hoyer received support from House Democratic Whip David Bonior of Michigan, who said the United States has turned its back on Bosnia by not lifting the U.N.-imposed arms embargo against the former Yugoslav republic. "We have watched the Serbs break agreement after agreement, we have seen NATO warnings issued and ignored," Bonior said. "And the one constant through it all has been the absolute unwillingness of the West to lift a finger to stop the slaughter in Bosnia."

Gilman asked Hoyer on Tuesday to hold off consideration of his amendment, saying it should be debated as a separate issue and did not belong in his committee's foreign aid bill. But the full House disagreed, and voted 318-99 in support of adding the Hoyer amendment to the bill.

Some members argued that the lifting of the arms embargo would lead to an escalation of hostilities in the three-year-old war as other countries, particularly Muslim nations, give weapons to Bosnia. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., said it would eventually lead to U.S. ground troop involvement in Bosnia. "Where is the rush to squander American lives?" Taylor asked. "If you're so anxious to go help (the Muslims)...pick up a gun and have a lot of fun."

The White House also cautioned against lifting the arms embargo, saying it could "Americanize" the war in the former Yugoslav republic. Although the final day of debate on the bill focused on Bosnia, debate over the past three weeks centered on the role of Congress in determining foreign policy.

Democrats argued that the bill allows Congress to set foreign policy -- a right reserved for the president. "We always tried to balance the power of the president with the power of the Congress in reaching our foreign policy," said House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt. "In all humility, I suggest to all of you that this bill does not carry on that tradition."

Specifically, the bill paves the way for Congress to impose the $29 billion in cuts to foreign aid included in the Republican budget plan approved by the House last month. It includes a 10 percent reduction in aid to Russia and the former Soviet Union. The bill also conditions aid to Russia on a resolution of the Chechnya conflict.

The House bill also takes jabs at China and Cuba. It calls for the State Department to establish a special envoy to a Tibetan government-in-exile headed by the Dalai Lama. China has governed the Himalayan kingdom since it crushed a separatist revolt in 1959.

In an effort to increase Cuba's isolation, the bill prohibits aid to any country that provides economic assistance to Cuba. The president may waive the prohibition if he determines it to be in the national interest.

The bill also authorized $590 million annually for general migration and refugee assistance, including the resettlement of certain Southeast Asian refugees considered to be in high-risk categories. Those include refugees who served in the U.S. armed forces or in the former goverment of South Vietnam.

Specific funding for Vietnamese refugees was not included, out of concern that the money would be used to support a U.N. forced repatriation program. The bill does, however, clear the way for those refugees to be allowed into the United States.

The bill also folds the duties of the Agency for International Development, which administers foreign aid, into a revamped State Department. In addition, the bill eliminates the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, which overseas compliance with nuclear accords, and the U.S. Information Agency, which runs broadcast operations overseas such as the Voice of America. Their responsibilities would also be turned over to the State Department.

The Senate is working on its own foreign assistance legislation. The Senate budget plan would reduce aid to European nations, lower contributions to U.N. peacekeeping to 1991 levels, and cut $286 million in funding under the Camp David Accords.