MIAMI (CNN) -- After failing to win a private visit "in a supervised, neutral
                  setting" with Elian Gonzalez, his two grandmothers left Miami without seeing
                  the boy, a spokesman reported.

                  The boy's maternal grandmother, Raquel Rodriguez, and paternal
                  grandmother, Mariela Quintana, reboarded a private jet late Monday night
                  and returned to Washington, where they will meet Tuesday with members of
                  Congress sympathetic to their cause.

                  "The grandmothers will return anywhere -- including Miami. These women
                  are not women of fear, they are women of courage," said the Rev. Bob
                  Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, which has
                  sponsored the women's trip to the United States.

                  The women had sat in a conference room for four hours at the airport, hoping
                  to reach some agreement with the boy's Miami relatives, who have been caring
                  for the boy since he was found floating in the waters off Florida.

                  The grandmothers left as Lazaro and Delfin Gonzalez, the boy's great-uncles,
                  Doris Rodriguez, the half-sister of one of the boy's grandmothers, and one of
                  Lazaro's sons were en route to the airport to discuss the matter face-to-face.

                  They were not bringing Elian along, and Spencer Eig, an attorney for the Miami
                  relatives, said they were told the grandmothers had no interest in meeting with
                  the great-uncles.

                  Edgar said the women didn't like the plans for the meeting.

                  "We were not confident of the security arrangements, particularly when we
                  discovered that the family wanted to make this a circus. In fact, they did a
                  cynical thing in telling a young child that this was a party," said Edgar.

                  "This was not a party. This was an opportunity for grandmothers to meet, to
                  touch, to kiss and to care for this little child," said the council spokesman.

                  Elian's Miami relatives, who are opposed to returning him to his father in
                  Cuba, have insisted the reunion take place at the uncle's home.

                  The grandmothers, who had asked U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to
                  arrange a meeting, want to meet privately with the boy.

                  Justice Department spokesman Carole Florman said authorities were trying
                  to arrange a meeting at a neutral location.

                  "The grandmothers were not comfortable with a meeting at Lazaro's house.
                  They want a private meeting with the boy," Florman said.

                  Crowd awaits grandmothers

                  An enthusiastic crowd of at least 300 gathered Monday outside the home of
                  Lazaro Gonzalez, and people broke into spirited applause when Elian
                  arrived home from school.

                  He was carrying two supermarket bags that Gutierrez said held cameras that
                  were bought so Elian could take pictures of his grandmothers.

                  Elian hugged a couple of his distant cousins and then rushed up the four front
                  steps to the house, ringing the doorbell before entering even though the door
                  was open.

                  "Grandmother(sic), we welcome you to be here with Elian," read a poster
                  carried by a girl in her school uniform. The poster included a reproduction of
                  a painting of Elian being rescued at sea while clinging to an inner tube.

                  "Grandmothers, we wish only the best for Elian," another poster said.

                  Lawyers helped negotiate reunion

                  Elian has been staying with relatives in Miami since November 25, when he
                  was rescued off Florida after surviving the capsizing of a boat carrying illegal
                  Cuban migrants.

                  His mother was among the 11 Cubans who drowned; Elian was one of three
                  survivors.

                  His two grandmothers were accompanied to Florida on Monday by five
                  people from the National Council of Churches, the New York-based
                  organization that has been acting as an intermediary in the bitter custody
                  dispute between Elian's relatives in Cuba and Miami.

                  Lawyers representing Elian's U.S. relatives sent a letter to the U.S.
                  Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) saying they wanted the
                  meeting to take place in Miami, so that the grandmothers could see for
                  themselves the boy's new surroundings.

                  "It's most important that the visit take place at the Gonzalez home in Miami
                  because the grandmothers really should see where Elian sleeps, what he
                  eats, who he plays with and how much love and caring he receives in the
                  home," the letter said.

                  "These are not observations which could be made at any other location," the
                  lawyers wrote.

                  The two women had expressed reservations about going to Miami, fearing
                  they would become the target of anti-Castro activities, but exile leaders and
                  relatives said Monday they would welcome the two women.

                  Ramon Saul Sanchez, the Democracy Movement leader who has
                  spearheaded street demonstrations against Elian's return to Cuba, said: "We,
                  the exiles, have made it clear that we welcome them and will protect them if
                  they come to the family in Miami to see their grandchild."

                  Congress may give Elian U.S. citizenship

                  In Washington, members of Congress readied legislation Monday to either
                  make Elian a U.S. citizen or a permanent U.S. resident.

                  Neither move would necessarily prevent the 6-year-old shipwreck survivor
                  from being sent back to Cuba.

                  But if Elian is granted citizenship, his case would be removed from the INS
                  jurisdiction and would then become a state court matter.

                  The INS has ruled that Elian should be returned to his father in Cuba. His
                  exiled Miami relatives, who are fiercely opposed to Cuba's Communist
                  president, Fidel Castro, are appealing that ruling in federal court.

                  Sen. Connie Mack, R-Florida, said he was sponsoring the bill because it is
                  "in the best interest of the young man."

                  "I would stress that the legislation I am proposing does not dictate an
                  outcome," said Mack.

                  "If the INS had stuck with its earlier position that it was a case about
                  custody ... then everyone would have felt that an open, fair process had
                  been followed," Mack said. A custody case would have put the matter in
                  court, where all interested parties would have had an opportunity to speak,
                  he said.

                  Mack said he fully expects an objection to be raised when the bill is
                  introduced on Monday, forcing a delayed second reading until Tuesday. He
                  said it could come up for a vote as early as Wednesday.

                  House members are expected to offer a similar citizenship bill on Tuesday.

                  'Children fleeing from oppressive countries'

                  The bill to make Elian a permanent U.S. resident is being sponsored by Rep.
                  Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey. Under current law, Cubans who arrive on
                  U.S. soil are automatically granted permanent residency one day after
                  they've been on U.S. soil for one year.

                  "Under the Cuban Adjustment Act, he would have that. We're just
                  accelerating the time so that his permanent residency status would take this
                  out of an immigration issue and into a family court so that we can determine
                  what's in the best interest of this child," Menendez said.

                  He said such a precedent is important to set "not only in this case, but in all
                  cases in which children fleeing from oppressive countries, whether that be
                  religious oppression, ethnic cleansing, political oppression, should be able to
                  have a day in court to determine what is best for that child."

                  Both the Senate and House bills must pass a simple majority vote, as with
                  any other bill.

                  At the White House, spokesman Joe Lockhart said President Bill Clinton
                  did not believe Congress should get involved.

                  "There is a real danger here that this can become a political issue, that this
                  young boy will be a political football," Lockhart said. "And I think the
                  president has made it very clear to everyone that they ought to stay away
                  from politics here and stick to what the facts and the law dictate."

                    Correspondents Mark Potter, Deborah Feyerick and Bob Franken, and The Associated
                                    Press contributed to this report.