"House Republicans Friday passed the second of 12 spending bills for the upcoming budget year, a $35 billion measure funding the Energy Department and popular water projects constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers.

But the 240-177 tally fell short of the margin that would be required to overcome a promised veto by President Barack Obama. The White House and its Democratic allies say the measure would shortchange renewable energy programs like solar power and is studded with anti-environmental "riders," or contentious add-on provisions that actually affect policy and not spending.

The measure includes a big boost to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal and also contains money that would keep the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site in Nevada from being completely shuttered, a challenge to Senate powerhouse Harry Reid, D-Nev., who has been largely responsible for blocking the project in the past."

Andrew Taylor reports for the Associated Press May 1, 2015. [2]