U.S. House of Representatives Approves $570 Billion Defense Bill

In an election-year challenge to President Barack Obama, the Republican-led House of Representatives on Friday overwhelmingly approved a $570 billion defense bill that halts any Guantanamo transfers for a year, in the furor over the American-for-Taliban swap, and pulls back government spying.

The vote was 340-73 for the legislation that provides money for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, personnel, ships and aircraft. An unusual coalition of libertarian Republicans and liberal Democrats pushed through new limits on National Security Agency surveillance as the year-old revelations of bulk collection of millions of Americans' phone records still roil the debate of security versus privacy.

Pushing through the bill over three days, Republicans railed against Mr. Obama's decision last month to swap five Taliban leaders, who had been held at Guantanamo for more than a decade, for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a captive for five years in Afghanistan. The Taliban were transferred to Qatar, where they must remain for a year.

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