According to its timetable, a 50-member committee is scheduled to complete work within a few weeks on a package of constitutional amendments that would be included in a national referendum.
Most analysts say the package is likely to win approval, in part because the government has jailed most leaders of the Islamist opposition and shut down most of its media. The charter’s ratification could give the Obama administration a chance to reopen some of the aid suspended.
Still, there were also signs that some of the developments that have troubled the United States might continue. On Wednesday, the Egyptian government said Mr. Morsi’s trial would begin on Nov. 4. He has been charged with inciting his followers to kill his government’s opponents.
“They’re saying many of the right things,” a senior administration official said. “But it’s important for us to see many of those things happen.”
The details and tone of what American officials called their “recalibration” of United States military assistance prompted a nonchalant reaction from Egyptian officials. Israeli officials, on the other hand, initially expressed concern.
The reactions — with the aid recipient appearing less worried than its ostensible rival — illustrated the awkward triangle that has grown up around the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel and that the United States helped seal three decades ago.