A group of Democrats and moderate Republicans in the US Senate plans to introduce a bill today that would permit the immediate importation of prescription drugs from Canada and later from Europe, reflecting a growing movement in Congress to make the practice legal. 

Among the five sponsors is Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a Democrat whose opposition helped to gut similar legislation last year after it had won approval in the House. 

Kennedy changed his position after he failed to reach a compromise on Medicare legislation last year and wound up as one of the biggest critics of the Medicare prescription drug benefit. He has said he opposed the previous bill because he did not believe the House measure contained enough safety provisions. If it can be done safely, he has said, then he is in favor. 

Kennedy is expected to be joined by Republican cosponsors John McCain of Arizona and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Democratic cosponsors Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota. 
Republican support has grown in the Senate, with former majority leader Trent Lott of Mississippi the highestpro file GOP member to drop his opposition and express support. 

If momentum continues to build, the election-year support in Congress could lead to a confrontation with the White House, which has stood strongly with the pharmaceutical industry and the Food and Drug Administration in opposition to the importation of medicine. 

The FDA has said that importing drugs could provide channels for counterfeit or improperly stored products. But despite months of strong warnings, polls show Americans consistently support the idea of importing drugs from Canada, where price controls provide discounts of 20 to 80 percent. 

The most recent industry estimates say the trade was worth about $700 million in 2003. Already, the City of Springfield offers a drug-import program for employees, and Mayor Thomas M. Menino plans to launch a pilot program for Boston city employees in July. 

''All of the fear-mongering and the rhetoric of the FDA, all of the obstacles, are being completely removed,'' said Andy Troszok, president of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, the industry's trade group, which is closely watching the debate. 

Full details of the measure to be introduced today were not available. But a Senate staff member said safety issues were a major priority. The bill would levy fees on foreign distributors of drugs, such as Canadian Internet pharmacies, to pay for increased safety and quality assurance monitoring by the FDA. Importation from Canada would start immediately; European imports would begin a year later. 

The bill would not only permit individual orders for personal use, but would allow commercial importation, a Senate staff member said. It is sure to put more pressure on the pharmaceutical industry, which, despite a massive public relations and lobbying effort, has been unable to kill the issue. A spokeswoman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the industry's lobbying arm, declined to comment because the bill had not yet been filed. 

Dorgan, Kennedy, and McCain declined to comment, their representatives said. Calls to Snowe and Daschle were not returned. 

Dorgan was instrumental in focusing the Senate leadership's attention on importation this year, when he threatened to hold up President Bush's nomination of former FDA commissioner Mark McClellan as the new 
Medicare administrator, unless drug imports were taken up. As a result, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee has said that the Republican leadership is committed to taking a close look at importation this year, but he has stopped short of offering support. 

''They are looking at different ways to make it safe,'' Amy Call, Frist's spokeswoman, said yesterday. ''If they are able to do that, I think you will see it move forward.'' 

Meanwhile, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, this month introduced his own bill on legalizing foreign drug sales. Republican Judd Gregg, of New Hampshire, chairman of the Senate Health Committee, is preparing to file a bill, too. 

The influential senior lobbying group AARP, which drew heavy criticism for supporting the Medicare bill, has begun advertising on television this year in favor of Canadian importation. The concept also is supported by the governors of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire. Those states have established websites where citizens can find links to Canadian Internet pharmacies. 

Yesterday, Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois said he is considering buying low-cost drugs from Europe to evade restrictions by US drug makers that are intended to limit imports from Canada. 

''Canada is not the only country that sells the same drugs available in the United States for much less,'' Blagojevich, a Democrat, said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg News. ''We believe we will find prescription drugs that are just as safe and even cheaper in Europe.'' 

A public backlash against the $534 billion Medicare prescription benefit law, passed last year, has also contributed to a favorable climate for importation proponents. 

Health care advocates and senior citizens have criticized the Medicare bill, which will not provide its full range of benefits until 2006. 
Meanwhile, some senators and representatives see Canadian imports as a quicker and simpler solution to the high cost of drugs. 

Before the Senate defeated the House version last year, a bipartisan group of representatives had voted 243 to 186 in favor of allowing foreign prescriptions. 
''Members of Congress are tired of being on the defensive,'' said Representative Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat who cosponsored last year's House bill. ''Rather than explaining why they did what they did, they want to say what they are for.''