Lobbying on the rescue plan for Wall Street intensified Monday as the package moved to Congress, giving advocates another avenue to alter the language in ways favorable to their clients.

Up to now, the actions to stem the financial calamity on Wall Street have been carried out by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve, with little involvement from Capitol Hill.

But the $700 billion plan to purchase bad debt from financial institutions and unclog credit markets requires Congress to act. The Bush administration urged lawmakers to pass a clean bill, but now there are more viewpoints that have to be considered.

Some Democrats already indicated the package may not pass until next week — news that sent stock prices tumbling and stressed some business lobbyists.

“If we don’t move quickly, we could be in the soup,” said Bruce Josten, the chief lobbyist of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Complicating lobbyists’ efforts was the difficulty of keeping track of all the various counterproposals to the administration’s bill.

One financial services lobbyist said his group was keeping a flow chart to try to keep track of who on Capitol Hill was pushing what.

“It ebbs and flows,” the lobbyist said. “It literally changes by the hour.”

Added Josten: “I think every 10 minutes, something changes here. I think they are wrapped up in it. It’s hard to tell what’s in, what’s out.”

One congressional reaction that emerged  — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) response to the rescue package — wasn’t favorable to many of K Street’s banking clients, who oppose one provision in particular: giving bankruptcy judges the power to lower mortgages for distressed homeowners.

“We are vigorously opposing that,” said Steve Verdier, a lobbyist for the Independent Community Bankers Association (ICBA). “If that happens, then the mortgage rates for other consumers are going to go up.”

ICBA sent out a new “issue alert” to its members on Monday in response to the Dodd proposal, and encouraged members to send a new letter to Capitol Hill even if they already signed a grassroots message on the ICBA website.

“‘Hit ’em harder’ is our message,” Verdier said.

The American Bankers Association joined in the criticism of the so-called “cram-down” provision.

“Authorizing write-downs of mortgages by bankruptcy judges will increase the risks of mortgage lending at a time when the market is already struggling” the ABA said in a letter it sent to Capitol Hill on Monday.