House Passes Bailout on 2nd Try

WASHINGTON -- U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers wary of growing signs of the nation's economic distress voted in favor of a $700 billion Wall Street rescue package on Friday, sending the biggest government intervention in the financial markets since the Great Depression to President George W. Bush for his signature.

European Pressphoto Agency

U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt and Republican Conference Chair Adam Putnam hold a press conference after a meeting of the House Republican Caucus about the revised bailout bill.

The 263-171 vote was a stark reversal from Monday, when House lawmakers shocked investors and their own leaders by voting against a more narrow version of the plan to buy up distressed assets from financial institutions. That vote sent financial markets tumbling and forced the Bush administration and congressional leadership to scramble and salvage the rescue plan.

The result: a $700 billion bailout for financial firms combined with $152 billion in unrelated tax breaks and broader tools for federal regulators to deal with the growing economic crisis. The Senate passed the bill with a strong, bipartisan tally of 74-25 on Wednesday evening.

The vote in the House was closer, in part a reflection that lawmakers are less than five weeks away from federal elections and voters are increasingly focused on the economy. Supporters of the rescue plan in recent days made a concerted effort to draw a line between Wall Street's woes and the concerns of everyday taxpayers.

"We must pass this legislation to stop the hemorrhaging," Majority Whip James Clyburn (D., S.C.) said in a floor speech, calling the legislation not about Wall Street but about the grocery stores, community banks and other local businesses facing economic hardship.

The likelihood of a winning vote cheered Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 220 points in early afternoon trading as the vote was tallied.