WASHINGTON • Ignoring a presidential veto threat, the House on Thursday approved measures aimed at curbing speculation in oil and other commodity markets. It said federal regulators don’t have the tools or enough people to track abuses.

The bill, passed by a vote of 283-133 and sent to the Senate, is aimed at certain hedge-fund and large institutional investors as well as electronic trading through overseas entities that avoid U.S. government scrutiny.

It would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority for more staff and for limiting the stake traders hold in certain markets. It would also require new reporting and other limits on traders including the foreign trading boards.

The bill now goes to the Senate, which is grappling with broader energy legislation focused on offshore oil drilling. It’s not certain whether the speculation issue will be wrapped into that effort, or even if an energy package will be passed before Congress leaves town, perhaps as early as the end of next week.

And the likelihood of the anti-speculation measure becoming law is anything but certain.

The White House said in advance of the House vote that President Bush is likely to veto the bill if it reaches his desk.

There “is no verifiable evidence to conclude that oil speculators were behind the rise in oil prices … (or) were behind its recent decline,” said the White House in a message to lawmakers.

Democrats in both the House and Senate have argued for months that abusive speculation in the oil markets was a major reason for the driving up of oil prices from $95 a barrel at the start of the year to a high of more than $147 a barrel this summer – and to the recent rapid decline.

Thursday, oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange briefly slipped above $100 a barrel as investors sought a haven from the financial sector’s turmoil, after recently dropping as low as $91 a barrel.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery settled at $97.88 a barrel.