WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives passed a bill Monday to study possible expansion of the national "Trail of Tears" system to include two trails through Arkansas and Tennessee.

The measure requires the Department of Interior to complete the study within six months with money that's already in the department's budget.

A version of the bill was approved by the House on July 17. Monday's 383-3 vote authorized the bill as amended by the Senate on Sept. 29.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., proposed the amendment to prohibit additional federal funding for the project. The study is expected to cost about $100,000, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates.

The bill now goes to the president for his signature.

Coburn's amendment also allows private donations for the study.

Paul Austin of the Trail of Tears Association said groups supporting the trail's expansion would most likely offer money for the study, if needed. However, he expects the department has enough money already in its budget to complete the report.

About 2,200 miles of land and river routes through nine states are already maintained by the National Park Service to commemorate the forced movement of thousands of Cherokee to Oklahoma in the 1830s.

The study would look at adding about 1,400 miles to the trail system: one route passed near Fort Smith and another through Fayetteville.

The existing recognized water route passes through Fort Smith near Belle Point.

"Those two routes are very significant for Arkansas," said Paul Austin of the Trail of Tears Association, whose group has worked with the Cherokee Nation and other trail supporters to research the Bell and Benge routes.

"Bell's route is right through Arkansas from Memphis to Fort Smith and the other from Pocahontas to Imboden to Fayetteville and into Oklahoma. They're historically significant," Austin said.

More importantly, Austin said, is that the two routes include parts of North Carolina and Georgia where the Cherokees originated, but overlooked in the existing trail designation.

Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., sponsor of the bill, said the proposed expansion is well-documented through National Park Service research, military journals and newspaper accounts.

"Even today, many interpretative activities along the Trail of Tears seek to remember the historic routes taken by the Benge detachment and the Bell treaty party," Wamp said.

The Army in 1838 enforced President Andrew Jackson's order to remove Indians from their homeland in the southeast United States to Oklahoma. About 16,000 Cherokees traveled the route on several paths and as many as a quarter of them died.

The study would identify 29 camps and immigration depots in Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina where the Army held Cherokees before the trek.