WASHINGTON — Lawmakers unveiled a $500 billion-plus catchall spending bill yesterday, reluctantly sticking within President Bush’s budget but protecting politically sensitive domestic programs from White House cuts.

The bill wraps together the budgets for every Cabinet department except the Pentagon and is expected to pass Congress this week before lawmakers head home for Christmas. The result is a disappointing defeat for Democrats seeking to add $27 billion to domestic programs, an almost 7% increase.

Mr. Bush sought a less than 1% increase overall for domestic programs, which wouldn’t have made up for inflation, much less population growth. His budget was layered with budget cuts and program eliminations that had been rejected in years past by Republican-dominated Congresses.

Democrats succeeded in reversing cuts to heating subsidies, local law enforcement, Amtrak, and housing, as well as Mr. Bush’s plan to eliminate the $654 million budget for grants to community action agencies that help the poor.

To find the money, lawmakers shifted $6 billion from Mr. Bush’s plans for defense, foreign aid, and military base construction accounts. They’ve added $2 billion in future-year appropriations for education that, for practical purposes, adds to Mr. Bush’s 2008 budget. Veterans would get $3.7 billion more than Mr. Bush requested, but only if he changes his mind and decides the money is needed. The budget legerdemain allowed Democrats to save programs such as the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, targeted for elimination by Mr. Bush. The program provides nutritionally balanced food to about a half-million mostly elderly poor people per month.