The US House of Representatives on Tuesday voted in favour of federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research.
This is despite President George W Bush's threat to use his presidential veto to stop it from becoming a law.
The House approved it by a 238-194 vote, far short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override a veto.
Supporters of the bill claimed it would accelerate cures for diseases but opponents viewed it like it was abortion.
Opposing embroynic stem cell research, Bush, in a speech at White House, said, "We should not use public money to support the further destruction of human life."
"In the complex debate over embryonic stem-cell research, we must remember that real human lives are involved, the lives of those with diseases that might be cured and the lives of the embryos that will be destroyed in the process," he said.
"This bill would take us across a critical ethical line by creating new incentives for the ongoing destruction of emerging human life," Bush said.
He said that he had allowed continued central government financing of research on stem-cells already taken from embryos before August 2001, but has barred federal money for stem cell lines developed since then.
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