The annual speech, which lays out federal policy for the upcoming year, is scheduled for 19 January.

Several senators of both political parties have said it would be inappropriate for the president to deliver his address before Congress while he is on trial.

They said that unless the trial is over or appears to be going on for some time, Mr Clinton should consider changing the date or sending up a written message and not delivering it in person.

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Mr Clinton planned to go ahead with giving the speech, but he did not rule out the president adjusting his schedule once the Senate made its plans.

Fast-track trial

Senate Democrats and moderate Republicans are trying to rally support for a cross-party proposal to speed up the impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton.

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The proposal comes as the president faces a new set of embarrassing accusations by an Arkansas prostitute who claims Mr Clinton fathered her child during a paid sexual encounter when he was governor of Arkansas.

When Congress convenes on Wednesday, the Senate's first task is to determine a timetable for the impeachment trial of Mr Clinton in the Senate.

The president faces charges of perjury and obstruction of justice relating to his affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Four-day plan

Republican Senator Slade Gorton and Democrat Senator Joseph Lieberman have put forward a proposal that could end the matter of impeachment in four days.

The trial would have no witnesses and allow only one day of arguments from each side. After a day of questioning, senators would debate and then vote on whether the charges against the president, if proven, constitute "high crimes and misdemeanours".

The plan aims to save the time and expense of calling witnesses and hearing evidence - efforts which would come to nothing if the prosecution failed to gain the requisite two-thirds majority support.

Censure

If, as seems likely, fewer than two-thirds of senators agree that the charges are serious enough for impeachment, the Senate will move on to initiate a motion of censure against the president.

The Senate majority leader, Republican Trent Lott, has expressed support for the fast-track plan, describing it in an interview with Time magazine as a "fair start".

Other Republicans continue to insist on a full trial, including testimony by the president.

"We are entitled to hear from [Mr Clinton] in a very sensible, straightforward way," said Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Many observers say, however, that the fast-track approach is likely to gain favour.

Speaking on the US Sunday news programmes, most senators agreed that any motion of censure should not include a fine.

With no precedent for a president being fined for misdemeanours in office, most senators expressed the view that imposing a fine was unlikely to be constitutional.

Welfare, defence proposals

Meanwhile, President Clinton has remained aloof from the debates, as he has done throughout the process that led to his impeachment.

Showing himself to be concentrating on domestic policy matters, he revealed new policy measures which will form part of the budget to be put to Congress.

The president's proposals include:

• Welfare measures including tax credit for the disabled
• A $12bn boost for defence spending, the biggest increase since the end of the Cold War