Congress has given final approval to legislation that requires tighter screening of air and sea cargo, and shifts more federal anti-terrorism grants to high-risk areas such as New York and Washington.

The requires radiation screening - within five years - of 100 percent of US-bound maritime cargo before loading at foreign ports, but it allows the secretary of homeland security to extend the deadline two years at a time.

Similarly, it requires screening of all cargo carried on passenger aircraft within three years, but not physical inspection, as initially proposed. That change will limit the impact on carriers.

The bill authorises - but does not fund - significant increases in homeland security grants, providing billions of dollars for transit and aviation security, emergency communications and first responders.

Voting 371-40, the House followed the Senate, which voted 85-8 on Thursday night, to send the measure to the White House after dropping a controversial provision that would have extended union protection to 45,000 federal airport screeners. That language had prompted a veto threat from President Bush.

In a statement, the White House criticised Congress for not acting on the September 11 commission's recommendation to streamline its own tangled oversight of domestic security. But it said Bush's major concerns "have been addressed, and the president will sign the legislation".

The bill implements many of the remaining recommendations of the September 11 commission. It cuts in half the amount of security grants provided to states with no regard to the risk of attack they face. Those guaranteed, population-based allocations are to be cut from about 40 percent of the total to about 20 percent.

The bill also sets up a programme requiring air travellers from 27 friendly countries to register online with the US government as much as 48 hours before departure. Passenger manifests are now sent 15 minutes after takeoff. The change will give US authorities more time to vet passport data for high-risk travellers.