However, getting the necessary 67 votes won't be easy. Neverthe less it probably won't have the result of overturning Mr. Bush's restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research in place now. The House vote was 50 votes short of an override. The main issue is that every strong display of support bring the goal closer, especially looking foward to the 2006 elections.

"If the president vetoes the legislation, the issue isn't finished," said Lawrence Soler, a government-relations official at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, a stem-cell advocacy group in Washington. "The fact that a majority of the House and Senate support the legislation is a critical step in building support that will eventually produce an expansion of the policy."

Getting the 60 Senate votes needed to surmount a filibuster by conservative opponents of expanded research is obviously going to be the first and hardest goal. Supporters of stem cell reserach say that they believe that they are already near that count. Going further, with greater than 60 votes increases the chance of forcing concessions on stem-cell policy from a White House that has long relied on near-unanimous support from fellow Republicans.

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