US officials were in talks with Egyptian officials on a proposal for President Hosny Mubarak to resign immediately, The New York Times reported late Thursday.
The plan would see Mubarak hand power over to a transitional government under Vice President Omar Suleiman with the support of the Egyptian military, unnamed US officials and Arab diplomats told the newspaper. Mubarak himself has not been directly involved in the talk, dpa reported.
The proposal would also call for opposition groups, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, to get involved in the planning of free and fair elections in September.
Mubarak has indicated he will not step down until his term ends in September and said in an interview on ABC News that there would be "chaos" if he were to step down now. With the protests showing no signs of dying down, questions have been raised on whether he will be able to retain power that long.
The New York Times report comes as US officials have stepped up calls for the transition to a new government to begin soon.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday urged Egypt to immediately start negotiations for an orderly transition of power.
The dialogue should include all aspects of Egyptian society that "yields concrete change," she said.
Egypt must immediately begin "serious negotiations on a peaceful and orderly transition," Clinton said.
The US Senate meanwhile unanimously passed a resolution calling for Mubarak to immediately begin a political transition with a caretaker government and elections later this year.
The resolution approved by unanimous consent says Mubarak should "immediately begin an orderly and peaceful transition to a democratic political system, including the transfer of power to an inclusive interim caretaker government, in coordination with leaders from Egypt's opposition, civil society and military, to enact the necessary reforms to hold free, fair and internationally credible elections this year."
It also said "concrete steps" should be taken as soon as possible with the lifting of emergency laws and allowing independent political parties to form.
However, the resolution expressed concerned about organizations with extremist ideologies, citing the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, and insisting that Egypt stand by its 1979 peace treaty with Israel regardless of who is in power.
US President Barack Obama began the day Thursday by offering a prayer for the end of the violence in Egypt and for a better future for the country mired in political unrest.
"We pray that the violence in Egypt will end, and that the rights and aspirations of the Egyptian people will be realized, and that a better day will dawn over Egypt and throughout the world," Obama said at the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual decades-long US tradition for presidents, top political leaders and other senior government officials and religious figures.
The US also focussed attention on condemning attacks on foreign reporters.
Clinton said the assault on journalistic freedom was a violation of international norms and "unacceptable under any circumstances."
Cairo has seen two days of violent unrest as Mubarak backers clashed with anti-government demonstrators. There have been widespread reports of journalists being detained or the victims of targeted attacks.