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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ignoring a veto threat, the House moved Tuesday toward approving a bill loosening President Bush's restrictions on stem cell research, with supporters claiming prospects were enhanced by promises that such research would offer new treatments for a host of debilitating ailments.

The floor debate was framed in starkly emotional terms, particularly by opponents of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research who liken the process to abortion because human embryos would be destroyed.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said that using leftover embryos from fertility clinics amounts to the "dismemberment of living, distinct human beings" because the embryos are destroyed during the research. Conservatives offered an alternative measure (H.R. 596) to encourage research using stem cells from umbilical cords.

Supporters of embryonic stem cell research tried to cast the debate in terms of the possible medical cures that could come from it.

"For America to stand back because of a moral principle and not allow sound scientific research to proceed under the umbrella of the National Institute of Health, I think, is unconscionable," said Rep. Charlie Bass, R-New Hampshire.