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In a 408-3 vote, lawmakers approved the FAA Short-Term Extension Act that authorizes federal money for airports, FAA salaries, and replacement of air-traffic control equipment.

Because of a disagreement with the Senate last year on how to fund aviation services, a six-month measure was passed that will expire at the end of March.

House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster had advocated the further six-month extension to allow time to consider a complete overhaul of FAA financing.

But this latest effort by the House to authorize funding for the remainder of fiscal 1999 is still at odds with the Senate, where the head of the Commerce Committee is pushing to quickly pass a two-year reauthorization.

Republican Senator John McCain was due to hold a committee meeting Thursday to consider the two-year bill, but postponed it until he recovers sufficiently from the flu to fly from his home state of Arizona.

Shuster, a Republican from Pennsylvania, wants to free up unspent money in the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, to which aviation taxes are directed. About 40 percent of the $10 billion collected this fiscal year will be retained to bolster overall budget finances.

The Clinton Administration has still not unveiled the full details of its proposals to boost FAA funding to meet sharp increases in air traffic and increasingly urgent replacement of outdated air traffic control and navigation equipment.

But in remarks prepared for a speech in New York Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater confirmed his department would seek an increase to $5 from $3 per airport for the passenger facility charge that is included in ticket prices to help finance airport expansion.

Slater said cost-based user fees would gradually replace arcane Federal budget rules to provide a reliable stream of revenue for the aviation system.

The Air Transport Association, which represents the major airlines, criticized the plans as unwarranted new taxes on the American people.

ATA said in a statement the government was also proposing to increase the immigration ticket tax for passengers entering the country to $8 from $6 and an unspecified increase in the $5 per passenger customs user fee.