WASHINGTON — State and local governments would be permanently barred from taxing access to the Internet under a bipartisan compromise the Senate began pushing toward final congressional approval.

The Senate was expected to vote Thursday to send the measure to President Barack Obama as part of a wide-ranging bill that would also revamp trade laws.

The Internet tax provision had broad support, with few senators eager to oppose the bill and open the door to taxing online access during an election year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday the measure would relieve people of “the worry that their Internet access is being taxed.”

Nonetheless, some were resisting the legislation because of trade provisions and because it omitted a separate, controversial proposal that would let states force online retailers to collect sales taxes for their transactions. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the bill was full of “missed opportunities and half-measures.”