As a part of a larger $91 billion spending measure beginning October, the U.S. House of Representatives has now approved legislation allowing the importation of lower-cost prescription drugs from places such as Canada, Australia and Europe.

The bill, passed by a 237-18 vote, now faces a presidential veto because of its overall cost, rather than because of the prescription drug language. Although the White House is not in favor of drugs from abroad over concerns about quality, it did not express a veto threat for drug importation.

According to Associated Press reports, the latest legislation contains almost $1 billion more than requested by Bush but is more than $10 billion below comparable costs for the current budget year. Also, it does not contain farm disaster aid and contains lower crop subsidy amounts due to the high farm commodity prices.

Prescription drugs in the U.S. are among the most expensive in the world. In other countries, they cost two-thirds less than they do in the United States. The reason is attributed to either controlled or partially controlled government regulation that passes along the high cost of research to find new drugs.