With prospects dimming that Congress will pass campaign finance reform this year, President Bill Clinton is expected in the coming weeks to petition the Federal Election Commission to ban so-called soft money contributions.

Soft money is the unrestricted and unlimited sums that go to the political parties for "party building activities."

White House officials tell CNN that Clinton is in the final stages of approving a proposal to get the FEC to take action on its own that would achieve the ban on soft money envisaged in the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation.

White House officials say the FEC, by a majority vote of its six-member panel, has the existing authority to ban soft money, and that's what the president will push for.

They say the presidential petition would underscore the White House's commitment to campaign finance reform at a time when the president and the Democratic Party are under fire for improper fund-raising activities involving soft money last year.