As now written, Wilson's bill would allow surveillance without a warrant in the first 60 days following an attack and for five days, up from the current three, before requiring approval from a secret federal court. Those restrictions were criticized in a hearing last week by Steven Bradbury, acting assistant attorney general.

Now, according to a senior aide familiar with the negotiations, Wilson will introduce an amendment that seeks to alleviate those concerns, providing for warrantless surveillance if the president notifies Congress that he has reason to believe an attack is imminent. Bradbury had said that the original bill showed promise but that "the president cannot and should not wait for thousands of Americans to die before initiating vital intelligence collection."

Wilson, the chair of the House subcommittee on technical and tactical intelligence, plans to submit the amendment Wednesday, when the bill is scheduled for markup.

While bringing the bill more in line with the administration's position on one front, the amendment also aims to strengthen congressional oversight over the eavesdropping program by insisting that Congress can determine, without negotiation with the White House, which of its members receive information about surveillance.

So far, the administration has been more supportive of a bill by Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, which would back Bush's wiretapping program in exchange for an administration promise to submit the program to a one-time review by the court established by Congress in 1978 under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In a party-line vote, Specter's bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

Democratic state Attorney General Patricia Madrid, who hopes to unseat Wilson, has called the wiretapping program "illegal and unacceptable" and characterized Wilson's stated concerns about the program as an election-year tactic to separate herself from Bush.

"I'm very confident that Heather Wilson will fall back in line with the Bush administration once she's had a second or two in the independent limelight," says Madrid campaign spokesperson Heather Brewer.

--Will Sullivan