Senators Wednesday were on the verge of clearing an overhaul of electronic surveillance rules after easily defeating three amendments aimed at a provision that would effectively wipe out lawsuits against companies allegedly involved in warrantless spying.

President Bush has said he supports the legislation, which would bring to an end a three-year congressional debate over his warrantless surveillance program.

The bill would give telecommunications companies immunity if a federal district court determined they received assurances from the government that the program was legal and authorized by the president. According to a Senate Intelligence Committee report, they did receive such assurances.

The first amendment, offered by Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Christopher S. Dodd of Connecticut and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, would strip the bill’s retroactive legal immunity provisions. It fell, 32-66.

“It’s bad enough that Congress abdicated its responsibility to hold the president accountable for breaking the law,” Feingold said. “Now it is trying to absolve those who allegedly participated in his lawlessness.”

The Senate also defeated 37-61 an amendment by Arlen Specter, R-Pa., which stated that the court would not determine whether the government assured the companies the program was legal and authorized, but instead review the constitutionality of the president’s program before the lawsuits could be dismissed.

Specter said his amendment would have ensured court scrutiny of a program on which few members of Congress have been briefed.

“I suggest that this may be a historical embarrassment – a historical embarrassment where we are voting on matters where everybody knows that we don’t know what we’re voting on,” he said.

An amendment offered by Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., also was defeated 42-56. It would have stayed all pending lawsuits until 90 days after Congress receives a report by the inspectors general on the president’s surveillance program.

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