WASHINGTON – The Senate voted yesterday to divert some of the money President Bush requested for the war in Iraq to instead increase security on the nation’s borders and provide the Coast Guard with new boats and helicopters.

Senators also ignored a White House veto threat and overwhelmingly voted against cutting a $106.5 billion measure funding Iraq, further hurricane relief for the Gulf Coast – and a slew of add-ons opposed by fiscal conservatives and Mr. Bush.

On border security, the Senate voted 59-39 for a plan to cut Mr. Bush’s Iraq request by $1.9 billion to pay for new aircraft, patrol boats and other vehicles, as well as border checkpoints and a fence along the Mexico border crossing near San Diego.

While the border security funds had broad support, Democrats and Republicans argued over whether the cuts to Pentagon war spending would harm troops in Iraq. The cuts, offered by Judd Gregg, a Republican of New Hampshire, would trim Mr. Bush’s request for the war by almost 3% but don’t specify how.

Senator Clinton said Mr. Gregg’s cuts would “take money from troop pay, body armor, and even the joint improvised explosive device defeat fund. Now that is a false choice and it is a wrong choice.”

Mr. Gregg argued that the cuts eventually would come from other parts of the massive Pentagon budget rather than American forces in Iraq.

“To come down here and allege that these funds are going to come out of the needs of the people on the front lines in Iraq or Afghanistan is pure poppycock,” he said.

An amendment by Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada to add the border security funds but not tap the Pentagon for them failed by a 54-44 vote.

The Senate voted by a veto-proof 72-26 margin to kill an attempt by conservatives to cut the overall bill back to Bush’s request – just a day after the White House issued a toughly worded promise to veto the $106.5 billion bill unless it is cut back to below $95 billion.

Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, a Republican of Illinois – the key architect of the bill – is unhappy with the veto threat and easily beat back a move by Craig Thomas, a Republican of Wyoming, to kill $12 billion in add-ons, such as $4 billion in farm aid,$1.1 billion for Gulf Coast fisheries, and a much-criticized $700 million Mississippi rail line relocation.

Mr. Bush insists that total spending in the bill be capped at his $92.2 billion request for Iraq and hurricane relief, though he is willing to accept $2.3 billion in the bill to prevent an outbreak of avian flu.