Although most lawmakers had only an inkling of the extent of government surveillance before this week, there has been no scarcity of congressional proposals to intervene. On Dec. 27, the Senate considered three proposals: one to mandate the declassification and disclosure of secret court rulings involving acquisition of electronic data; another to broadly pull back the government’s power to eavesdrop; and another to mandate the disclosure of surveillance on ordinary Americans and divulge how many records have been targeted.

The last one, written by Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, received the most votes, 43. The broadest curtailment of power, written by Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, received just 12.

With headlines blaring about Internet eavesdropping and phone call dragnets, lawmakers were happy to express their misgivings Friday. Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, said, however, that he was not ready to endorse changes to the programs.

“But in terms of, should we be debating this more and doing it in a more transparent way? The answer is absolutely,” said Mr. Kaine, who arrived at the Senate after the efforts were renewed last year.

Senator John Boozman, Republican of Arkansas, sought in an interview to lump the surveillance revelations with what he sees as regulatory overzealousness at the Environmental Protection Agency and other administration departments that have “greatly expanded” the congressional intent of legislation.

“This is something my constituents in Arkansas are very concerned about,” he said.

But Mr. Boozman voted in December against every effort to shine light on or curtail the programs, part of what Mr. Paul called “the meekly accepted bipartisan consensus” in an opinion piece the British newspaper The Guardian on Friday.

In remarks in California on Friday, Mr. Obama sought to reassure Americans that surveillance programs were already controlled by Congressional oversight. But lawmakers involved in such oversight are not so sure about that. Senators are allowed to request classified briefings on such efforts in a secure room in the Capitol. But those who have had such briefings describe them as broad, bland and minimal. Moreover, once they have attended, divulging any information from them, no matter how bland, is considered a felony.