Related: U.S. White House Threatens to Veto Media Shield Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill to protect reporters from disclosing identities of their sources despite the White House threat to veto on it.

The bill which would forbid prosecutors from forcing reporters to reveal confidential sources was passed by a vote of 398 to 21 at the House and sent to the Senate.

"Freedom of the press is fundamental to our democracy and is fundamental to our security," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The White House earlier Tuesday issued a statement in which it threatened to veto the bill, saying it would provide a broad privilege to reporters "that could severely frustrate, and in some cases completely eviscerate, the federal government's ability to investigate acts of terrorism and other threats to national security."

However, the margin of the House vote was more than the two-thirds majority needed to override a possible veto by President George W. Bush.

Under the new bill, reporters could still be forced to disclose information on sources if that information is needed to prevent acts of terrorism or harm to the national security.

But the president's senior advisers would recommend he veto the bill if it was presented to him in its current form, the White House statement said.

"The legislation would make it extremely difficult to prosecute cases involving leaks of classified information and would hamper efforts to investigate and prosecute other serious crimes," it said.

"The bill would impose an unreasonable and unjustified evidentiary burden on prosecutors seeking to issue a subpoena to a member of the news media, placing authorities in an untenable position."

Several high-profile cases, including one involving the leak of the identity of a CIA operative, drove press freedom advocates to push for a legislation this year to shield reporters from disclosing their sources. The bill has been endorsed by more than 50 news outlets.