House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks next to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (R) after meeting with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (2nd L), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) (L) and other congressional leaders in the U.S. Capitol in Washington September 18, 2008. REUTERS/Mitch Dumke

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Treasury was expected to deliver to Congress within 24 hours a proposal to calm the financial markets and deal with illiquid debt instruments, congressional aides said on Friday.

The proposal was expected to contain some legislative details, but fall short of qualifying as an actual bill, said the aides, all of whom asked not to be identified.

“We’re expecting more than general principles but less than legislative language,” said one Senate aide.

Congress is preparing to move swiftly once those principles are converted into legislation.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said he expects to bring legislation to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives “early next week” for passage.

The Senate also would have to approve the Wall Street bailout before sending it to U.S. President George W. Bush for signing into law.

One aide said the Treasury proposal would likely make suggestions on what kind of debt instruments should be purchased under the program to soak up subprime mortgage-backed securities, and possibly other types of broken debt instruments, that are paralyzing world credit markets.

The aide said the proposal may also call for locating the program initially within the Treasury Department and then possibly migrating it later into an independent entity, as long as that could be done without slowing the market rescue process.

It was still unclear who might be in charge of the program and how much taxpayer money it will likely cost, aides said.