The US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted late yesterday by 35-0 to release an edited version of Ms Linda Tripp's tape recordings of Ms Monica Lewinsky, which provoked an impeachment investigation of President Bill Clinton.
The committee met through the day to decide what to make public out of a mountain of potential evidence against Mr Clinton.
A spokesman said an edited transcript of the tapes would be released next week, but the audiotapes could take up to 10 days to duplicate. "I believe the vote was to release redacted versions of the audiotapes," Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, told reporters.
The tapes, secretly recorded by Ms Tripp of the former White House intern's tales of an affair with the President, prompted the independent counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr's investigation into the Lewinsky case.
Democrats expected the tapes would prove favourable to Mr Clinton, with Ms Tripp apparently leading Ms Lewinsky along in a way that a Republican committee source said was "highly manipulative".
Republicans had been expected to oppose the release but in the end decided not to block it.
The committee, on a party-line vote, rejected a motion by Democrats to send a bipartisan team to Mr Starr's office to inspect some 20 boxes of remaining material not handed over.
Meanwhile an informed source in Washington said lawyers for President Clinton were seeking a settlement to have Ms Paula Jones withdraw a pending appeal on the dismissal of her sexual harassment suit against Mr Clinton. There is "an ongoing discussion", a source close to the talks said on condition of anonymity, confirming a report in the Washington Post.
As he left the White House yesterday, Mr Clinton ignored a shouted question about whether his lawyers were dealing to settle the Jones case.