The US Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a 416 billion US dollars defense appropriations bill for the 2005 fiscal year, including 25 billion dollars for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 98-0, which provides money for a 3.5 percent military pay raise and extra money for adding 20,000 soldiers to the Army.

Like the House, the Senate approved 95 million dollars in emergency disaster relief and refugee aid for the crisis in Sudan, and 50 million dollars in emergency money to tighten security for the Republican and Democratic national conventions this summer.

Excluding the funds for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the bill represents an increase of 22.5 billion dollars, or 6 percent, over this year's total.

The overall bill is 1.7 billion dollars short of what the White House requested, allocating 76.5 billion dollars for purchasing weapons and other equipment.

The House and the Senate will work out a compromise version of the measure and send it to President George W. Bush for signature before it becomes law.