With a House of Representatives vote on impeachment two weeks away, and with Republican support for impeachment wavering , Democrats publicly tested options this week that would allow Congress to register its disapproval of his behaviour but stop short of impeachment.

Senior Republican aides surveyed their members this week, and said that an impeachment charge of perjury might pass but an obstruction of justice charge would fail.

Democrats, including a member of the committee holding the impeachment hearings, are testing censure options, and it appears that such efforts are gaining momentum. The censure proposals are the first indications that the House is seriously exploring lesser options in lieu of impeachment. Democrats hope the proposals will give an option to those members of Congress who want to punish the president but are wavering on impeachment.

Judiciary committee member Rep Bill Delahunt, a Democrat from Massachusetts, has been testing support for a censure motion, but his office said that he has yet to draft a formal proposal.

Another representative is already circulating a draft measure. Rep Paul McHale, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, forwarded a censure resolution Tuesday to leaders in the House of Representatives. Mr McHale's resolution condemns the president for "providing false and misleading testimony under oath" and obstructing the investigation of the "President's improper and reprehensible relationship with a subordinate government employee."

Mr McHale's censure proposal is notable because he was the first Democrat to call on President Clinton to resign. In an 8 October statement, he said: "(President Clinton's) actions were not 'inappropriate.' They were predatory, reckless, breathtakingly arrogant for a man already a defendant in a sexual harassment suit, whether or not that suit was politically motivated."

Mr McHale has changed his focus from resignation to censure in recognition that it might be the only way to punish the President that has hopes of passing.

"He feels that the country and the Congress don't seem to have the stomach for impeachment, and certainly, the president will not resign. Censure is the best alternative. It acknowledges the president's wrongdoing, but allows Congress to get back to the business of the country," said a spokesperson for Mr McHale.

Some members of Congress have questioned whether censure is a constitutionally viable option.

But, House Rules Committee Chairman Gerald BH Solomon has outlined a possible route to censure. The House and Senate would have to pass a censure resolution, and then Mr Clinton would be required to sign it. Solomon suggested that forcing Mr Clinton to sign the measure "might be the same kind of embarrassment" as other censure options that have less of a change of passage.