WASHINGTON -- Moving forcefully on his top domestic priority, President Barack Obama told a powerful Senate chairman on Monday he wants legislation ready in the Finance Committee by week's end, according to numerous Democratic officials.

These officials said Obama made his wishes known to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., at a White House meeting attended by administration officials and senior Democratic lawmakers.

It was not immediately clear whether Obama expressed a preference for a bipartisan measure -- which Baucus has been laboring over for months -- or a bill tailored more to Democratic specifications.

The conversation underscored Obama's determination to push legislation through both houses of Congress before lawmakers go home for a summer break late this month or in August.

The officials who spoke did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss private meetings.

Scott Mulhauser, a spokesman for Baucus, said the senior Democrat "has stressed the Finance Committee will be ready when it has a mark (proposal) that can ensure quality, affordable care for every American, lower costs -- and pass the Senate."

Despite objections from conservative and moderate Democrats, prospects for House action along the president's timetable are better than in the Senate.

There, majority Democrats are readying legislation, to be introduced as early as Tuesday, that would prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage or charging higher premiums on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions.

The measure would spend billions of dollars subsidizing lower income individuals and families who cannot afford coverage, in an attempt to cut dramatically into the ranks of the uninsured.

To comply with another presidential priority, it would rely on cuts in Medicare and Medicaid to begin slowing the rate of growth in health care spending overall.

The measure is expected to impose a fee equal to 8 percent of a worker's salary on large companies that fail to offer insurance or do not subsidize it at a high enough rate.

Individuals also would have to pay a penalty if they refused to purchase affordable insurance.

Officials announced last week that the measure would include an income tax surcharge on the wealthy, estimated to raise more than $500 billion over the next decade.