Updated at 3:36 p.m. ET

President Obama scored a victory today in the House when Tea Party Republicans helped scrap funding for a jet engine the White House and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have been trying to kill for years.

The House passed an amendment today by Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., to strip funding for an alternative engine for the F-35 fighter jet. Gates has said completion would be a waste of $3 billion. The vote was 223-198.

The alternative engine survived last year when Democrats controlled the House, despite persistent lobbying by Obama and Gates. Rep. John Larson of Connecticut, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said the alternative F-35 engine is "a program our military doesn't want and our country cannot afford."

The General Electric plant that is developing the alternative engine is in Ohio, near House Speaker John Boehner's district.

The amendment on the jet engine is just one of hundreds that Republicans and Democrats have prepared as Congress tries to settle on funding levels for the rest of this year. A final vote on the resolution, which would pay for government operations from March through September, is expected on Thursday.

The GOP has proposed $61 billion in cuts on a wide array of government programs, including education, health, transportation and energy. Democrats such as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have said Republicans are cutting too deep and will hamper job creation and economic growth.

Boehner has said the GOP's proposal is needed to help reduce the government's red ink. We need to liberate our economy from the shackles of big government -- not bury our children and grandchildren under a mountain of debt," he said.

Among other amendments that could be considered:

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., wants to eliminate funding for the Pentagon's sponsorship of NASCAR race teams.

And Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., a member of the House Tea Party Caucus, wants to cut funding for those special White House advisers informally dubbed "czars," including the people who advise Obama on health care, the auto industry and "green" jobs.