The bill also contains more than $1.5 billion for AIDS research and treatment; $4 billion for job-training programs; $1.9 billion for alcohol, drug abuse and mental health programs; $11.7 billion for welfare programs; and $2.1 billion for education for the handicapped.
The vote was the second abortion showdown in the House since the Supreme Court's July 3 decision in the Webster v. Reproductive Health Services case.
On Aug. 2, the chamber voted to dramatically liberalize abortion restrictions in the District of Columbia. That was the first time since 1980 that the chamber had rejected tighter limits.
Medicaid financing for poor women's abortions has been restricted in one way or another since 1977.
In 1979, the last year for which reliable figures are available, there were 72 federally subsidized abortions in the United States, according to the private Alan Guttmacher Institute.
In fiscal 1987--the most recent statistics available--the federal government paid for 322 abortions at a cost of $160,000, the institute says. States financed 189,000 abortions that same year.
There are an estimated 1.6 million abortions performed legally in the United States each year.