Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist aims to call a swift vote on a slimmed-down $15 billion energy bill after lawmakers return from a week-long holiday later this month, a Frist aide said on Wednesday.

The bill, which would double the use of corn-distilled ethanol in gasoline, replaces a proposed $31 billion bill laden with energy industry incentives that stalled in the Senate late last year.

Frist wants to invoke a parliamentary rule that would allow him to bring the new legislation directly to the Senate floor for debate, bypassing committee action.

"That's our intention. It's not 100 percent certain but it's what (Frist) is hoping to do," the Frist aide said.

Republicans are searching for ways to salvage the energy bill, the first major overhaul of U.S. energy policy in more than a decade. On Tuesday, Republicans rejected a proposal to attach the energy measures to highway and mass transit legislation.

New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, has cut the cost of the bill in half to allay concerns of Republican budget hawks and the White House.

After Frist and Domenici met late on Tuesday, a Domenici spokeswoman said no final decision was reached on how to revive the energy bill.

"That's premature," a Domenici aide said, responding to the suggestion that stand-alone action on the bill will be the chosen route. "Chairman Domenici hasn't settled on a strategy. He's looking at several options."

Some Washington lobbyists speculated that Frist might bring the energy bill to the floor for debate on Thursday, after an expected vote on the highway bill. However, the aide to Frist said he would not take such action until after Congress returns from a week-long recess on Feb. 23.

Domenici said the new version of the energy bill will drop a controversial measure to protect makers of the MTBE gasoline additive and ethanol from lawsuits for water pollution.

The original bill failed to move forward in the Senate because Democrats and moderate Republicans opposed legal protection for oil companies and petrochemical firms that make MTBE.

If the bill is reopened, Senate Democrats say they would likely try to attach numerous amendments on renewable energy, climate change and other measures that were rejected when the bill was debated last year.

"If the energy bill returns, Senate Democrats have some serious and substantive amendments we would want to offer," said an aide to Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico.

The new energy package also includes a mandate to double ethanol use to 5 billion gallons (19 billion liters) a year over the next several years.

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