WASHINGTON -- Ignoring an impassioned appeal by President Bush, the House yesterday voted 238-194 to permit federal expenditures for more medical research using stem cells derived from human embryos that would have been discarded by fertilization clinics.

Supporters of such embryonic stem cell research say it could someday lead to treatments or cures for diseases that affect 110 million Americans. But opponents say using embryos is, like abortion, the taking of human life.

If the Senate votes with the House, as appears likely, Bush has vowed to veto the bill. The House vote indicated that supporters of embryonic stem cell research now lack the needed two-thirds votes to override a veto.

Party leaders did not try to influence yesterday's vote, letting members vote their conscience.

Bush has not vetoed any bill so far in his presidency. According to the Senate library, he has gone the longest without a veto of any president since Thomas Jefferson, who had no vetoes.

Before the House vote, Bush said: "There is no such thing as a spare embryo. Every embryo is unique and genetically complete. These lives are not raw materials."

He also met yesterday with 21 families whose children came from the adopted embryos of couples who had used in vitro fertilization and did not need all their embryos. Bush held a birthday party with cake for two of the children.

On Capitol Hill, supporters of using federal money to expand research with embryonic stem cells presented patients and families of those who have suffered from diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, spinal-cord injuries, cancer, multiple sclerosis and diabetes, all of whom endorsed the view that such research offers a chance for a cure.

Beth Westbrook of Pittsburgh lost her 15-year-old daughter, Katie, to bone cancer and begged for passage of the bill. "Cancer doesn't wait, and neither should we," she said. "Give children with cancer hope."

Jackie Hunt Christensen, a 41-year-old mother of two from Minneapolis, was diagnosed with Parkinson's at age 33 and must take medicine every 90 minutes. "An uninvited guest is taking over my body," she said, and she wondered whether she would live to see her children graduate from high school.

Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., who has been in a wheelchair since he was 16 because of a spinal injury, said there was no discrepancy between his pro-life stance on abortion and his support for embryonic stem-cell research. "There's finally hope on the horizon," he said.

And Rep. Lane Evans, D-Ill., speaking with difficulty, said: "Parkinson's affects millions of Americans, and I am one of them. There are good days and bad days." He added, "This is a really exciting day for me."

The three-page bill that passed was introduced by Reps. Michael Castle, R-Del., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo.

Castle said adult stem cells and umbilical blood do not offer scientists enough hope for a breakthrough. He noted that $60 million had been spent, but scientists say they have been blocked because they need to have more stem-cell lines for their research.

On Aug. 9, 2001, Bush blocked use of federal dollars on any research using embryonic stem cells that were not already existing as of that date to prevent destruction of more embryos. But scientists say only 22 of 78 stem-cell lines existing then were usable, and many were contaminated or too old.

DeGette emphasized that her bill would not involve any federal money for destruction of embryos created for couples seeking to have children. Once they have conceived a child, excess embryos must either be discarded, kept for research or donated to couples who want to adopt them.

Only embryos discarded by parents could be used for research, DeGette said. She said the bill would put ethical restraints on how stem-cell lines may be created and forbids payment for embryos.

The bill's supporters said thousands of embryos would never be adopted or become children, but will instead be destroyed when they might be used to help others to live longer.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said embryos don't have consciousness or free will. "But if they did, wouldn't some of them volunteer to be ... the magic bullet" that provides a cure?

But Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., contended that embryos were not potential human beings, but instead already were actual human beings, saying, "I myself am a 992-month-old embryo."

And Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., a physician, warned against voting for the bill, saying he thought that it would lead to legalized cloning. "The promise and potential appear to be in the ethically acceptable adult stem-cell research and blood from umbilical cords," he said.

House Majority Leader Tom Delay, R-Texas, called for the bill's defeat because he said passage would mean that the United States does not respect human life. He said embryonic stem-cell research so far has yielded no treatments or cures.

But Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., scoffed that he didn't need an ethics lecture from DeLay, who is under House investigation for possible ethics violations. "Our scientific policies should not be decided by [presidential political adviser] Karl Rove and self-appointed gurus," Stark said. "Don't tell my constituents we can't alleviate their suffering because it might offend modern-day Pharisees."

While 187 "yes" votes were from Democrats, 14 Democrats joined 180 Republicans in voting against the measure. One was Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, an ardent abortion foe.

Kaptur said the bill should be defeated because there were no hearings on it, so many questions, including ethical dilemmas it posed, went unanswered. "We are debating the essence of human life, the creation of life and the destruction of life, how your family's DNA is propagated and bequeathed to the next generation," she said. "My opinion about this bill is -- not yet."

She also said she was skeptical of the timing of an announcement last week that South Korean scientists had cloned embryos for use in stem-cell research. There is a lot of money in such research, she said, adding that she wanted to know more about who would benefit from the bill's passage.

Among Western Pennsylvania members, Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Woods, opposed the bill saying embryonic stem-cell research offered a "false promise" of hope for disease cures. Instead, she said, such embryos should be adopted and given a chance to become children.

Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, also opposed the bill. "A life without a name is still a life," he said. "To call them 'discarded embryos' does not take away that they are still a life. Some may see this as science. But [that] does not take away the lethality of this research. If we say it's all right to remove the life of an embryo, what next? What next?"

Reps. Mike Doyle, D-Penn Hills, and John Murtha, D-Johnstown, voted for expanded research using embryonic stem cells, while Reps. Phil English, R-Erie, and Bill Shuster, R-Blair, opposed it.

The House also passed a bill, 430-1, that would create a federal databank for stem cells from umbilical blood to be used in research.