Washington ? Support was building among Republicans and the White House on Tuesday for a proposal from several moderate senators that would give President Bush’s controversial surveillance program the force of law, more than four years after he secretly initiated the program.

The move allowed Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee to support efforts to craft eavesdropping legislation and conduct additional oversight. It also blunted Democratic calls for an investigation of the U.S.-based monitoring operations in the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said the legislation proposed by several moderate Republicans was “certainly a good foundation to start with” – a sentiment shared by the Senate’s Republican leadership and the White House, he said.

After weeks of negotiations and closed-door meetings, Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, said he would soon introduce the Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006 with three other moderates who have helped shaped the debate on intelligence issues: Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Roberts said he thought that Bush would sign surveillance legislation after “Congress worked its will.”

It’s unclear whether the House will consider a similar measure. House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., has not yet taken up legislation.

Meanwhile, Democrats on the Intelligence Committee expressed outrage after a meeting Tuesday in which senators voted – along party lines – to reject an investigation of the surveillance proposed by West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the committee’s top Democrat.

“The committee – to put it bluntly – basically is in the control of the White House,” a visibly angry Rockefeller said.

Roberts balked at Rockefeller’s suggestion. Roberts told reporters that he asked the committee to reject confrontation and accommodate an agreement with the White House to create a subcommittee of seven senators with broad oversight of the National Security Agency’s terrorist monitoring.

“We should fight the enemy. We should not fight each other,” Roberts said.

The 15-member panel agreed, over strong Democratic objections that the limited size of the group means Congress will be writing laws in the dark.