WASHINGTON -- The House on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill that would strip away $14.3 million in long-unspent federal funding in Western New York.

And quite by accident, Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, voted for the measure.

The bill would eliminate money for 309 projects worth a total of $713.2 million nationwide, including seven in the region.

Most notably, the region would lose $6.2 million mostly targeted to an inner harbor parking garage, $5 million for the Southtowns Connector and $2.1 million for two additional expressway lanes from the Chautauqua Lake Bridge to the Pennsylvania border.

All three of those projects are in the district represented by Higgins, who has made the fight for federal funding for Buffalo's waterfront a centerpiece of his congressional career. And just last week, Higgins voiced opposition to the bill pulling back those federal funds.

But when the vote on the bill came up unexpectedly Tuesday during a series of routine votes, Higgins voted yes.

"I made a mistake," Higgins said.

The measure came up for a vote during a series of "suspensions," which are routine votes that typically win near-unanimous support.

Higgins said he was discussing other issues with three other lawmakers on the House floor at the time of the vote and never looked at the memo his staff had given him recommending that he vote "no" on the measure.

"I should have checked," Higgins said. "I just didn't."

Higgins inserted a statement in the Congressional Record acknowledging his error and saying that he intended to vote no. That's what lawmakers tend to do when they make such mistakes, which happen on occasion on routine measures.

Higgins' yes vote made no difference in the bill's fate, since it passed, 394-23.

Western New York's other lawmakers -- Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fairport, and Rep. Chris Lee, R-Clarence -- also voted for the bill. None of the Buffalo-area projects affected by the bill are in Slaughter's district, while only one, $261,686 for improvements to Route 78 in Amherst, is in Lee's.

Higgins said the bill cuts too wide a swath by repealing all the unspent earmarks from the 1991 and 1998 highway bills.

"It lumps all the good earmarks in with all the bad earmarks and says they're all bad," he said.

While a tight legislative schedule means the bill's Senate prospects are unclear, the House rushed the bill to the floor amid increasing public concern about the federal deficit.

Sponsored by Rep. Betsy Markey, a Colorado Democrat, the bill won the support of Rep. James L. Oberstar, the Minnesota Democrat who heads the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

"Rescinding funds from projects that are no longer viable is a practical approach to saving taxpayers' dollars," Oberstar said. "Rescinding this $713 million now prevents it from being used to increase spending in the future."

Higgins indicated that the bill may have been fast-tracked to the floor to aid Markey, who faces a difficult re-election bid.

Markey said: "I applaud those House members who supported these common-sense spending cuts. Long-term economic growth and recovery can't happen unless we cut wasteful government spending and tackle our exploding  deficit."                        

jzremski@buffnews.comnull