House Republicans tried again Tuesday to force a floor vote on Senate-passed legislation to overhaul the nation’s electronic surveillance law.

But Democrats stood fast, insisting that negotiations continue between the House and Senate on a compromise version of the legislation.

By 212-198, the House quashed the Republican effort on a procedural vote.

House and Senate Democrats are negotiating over the legislation, but Republicans and the Bush administration are boycotting those talks. Republicans say the House should simply clear the Senate version of the measure instead. The Senate passed that bill Feb. 12 by 68-29.

“Congress needs to act immediately,” said Rep. Pete Sessions , R-Texas. He said House Republicans will try every day to bring up the Senate-passed version, which also has the backing of 21 Blue Dog Democrats.

Democrats are working on a compromise with an eye toward House floor action before the two-week spring recess next month. The main sticking point remains whether to grant retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications firms that aided the government’s warrantless surveillance of Americans for more than five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The Senate bill, passed with White House support and bipartisan backing, would grant such immunity. The House-passed bill would not.