House rejects bill to ban human cloning

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mostly Republican lawmakers defeated a Democratic bid on Wednesday to outlaw cloning of human babies, concurring with the White House that the effort was flawed and would still permit destruction of life because it would allow embryos to be created for stem-cell research.

"Let's pass a real ban on human cloning, not this phony bill," Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey said in opposing the legislation in the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives.

The vote was 204-213 as 31 Democrats joined 182 Republicans in voting against it. A two-thirds majority would have been needed to pass the bill.

The White House reaffirmed President George W. Bush's opposition to human cloning. It had threatened to veto the measure, noting the bill would still allow creation of embryos for stem-cell research which requires destruction of human life.

"Most of us in this body are opposed to human cloning," said Republican Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, adding if the bill was subjected to hearings a consensus could likely be reached.

But Democrats tried to ram it through on the eve of anticipated final congressional approval by the House of a Senate-passed bill to expand federally funded embryonic stem cell research.

Bush has threatened to veto this bill too. The House and Senate are not expected to muster the needed two-thirds majorities to override him.

Embryonic stem cell research has been the center of an ethical and political maelstrom and was a hot issue last year when Democrats won control of Congress.