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WASHINGTON -- Spoiling for a veto fight, Congress cleared legislation Thursday easing restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

The House vote to send the measure to President Bush was 247-176, short of the level needed to override a second veto in as many years on the issue.

This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Spoiling for a veto fight, Democrats pressed for final congressional approval Thursday of legislation easing restrictions on the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research.

"We have an obligation to the people of this country to support research that could prevent suffering that could safe countless lives," said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, a California Democrat.

Critics said the research involves the destruction of human embryos, and that the legislation could open the door to widespread abuse. "You're talking about spare embryos now but if it ever did work ... it would require the killing of millions of embryos," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J.

The legislation passed the Senate earlier this year, and supporters said they had more than enough votes in the House to send it to the White House by day's end.

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Less clear is whether they also will have the votes to override the veto the president has pledged. Bush made his position clear weeks ago when he said the legislation, which involves the destruction of human embryos, "crosses a moral line that I and many others find troubling."

Public polls show strong support for the research, which supporters say could lead to treatment of diseases including Alzheimer's and juvenile diabetes. Democratic congressional leaders arranged to dispatch the measure to the White House with a flourish.

Democratic aides said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid intended to stage a ceremony to dramatize the passage of the bill.

They held a similar event earlier in the year when Congress approved legislation containing a troop withdrawal timetable for the Iraq war.

Bush vetoed that bill on May 1, and as expected, the House failed to override his veto.

Democrats made the legislation a top priority when the took control of the House and Senate in January.

The House approved an initial stem cell measure within days of convening on a 253-174 vote that was short of a veto-proof majority. The Senate passed a slightly different measure in April, 63-34. The House needed to vote on the bill again to send it to the president.

There was no federal money for embryonic stem cell research until Bush announced on Aug. 9, 2001, that his administration would make it available for lines of stem cells that were in existence. Elected with the strong support of abortion foes and other conservatives, he said at the time his decision was designed to balance concerns about "protecting life and improving life."

He also limited the funds to cell lines derived from embryos that were surplus at fertility clinics, and that had been donated from adults who had given informed consent.

Advocates of the veto-threatened legislation argue that the number of stem cell lines available for research is smaller than needed, and that some of the material has become contaminated over time by mouse embryonic skin cells that typically are placed at the bottom of culture dishes used in the research.

The bill would permit funding for research on embryonic stem cells regardless of the date of their creation, as long as they were donated from in-vitro fertilization clinics, they would "otherwise be discarded" and donors gave their approval.

Separately, three teams of researchers reported Wednesday they had found a way to produce embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos _ but in mice. They got ordinary skin cells to act like the embryonic cells, which can develop into all types of tissue.

In a prelude to the stem cell vote in Congress, House Republicans engineered the defeat of legislation to ban human reproductive cloning. The 213-204 vote against the measure was well short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage.

Critics said it would facilitate the creation of cloned human embryos to be used in research and then destroyed.

© 2007 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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