Desperate to avoid another market-crushing defeat, leaders in the House of Representatives won key converts Thursday to the $US700 billion ($890 billion) US financial industry bail-out on the eve of a make-or-break second vote.
President George Bush and congressional leaders lobbied furiously for the dozen or so supporters they would need to reverse Monday's stunning setback and approve a massive rescue plan designed to stave off national economic disaster and reassure global financial markets.
"A lot of people are watching,'' Bush pointed out - as if lawmakers needed reminding - and he argued from the White House that the measure was the best chance to calm unnerved financial markets and ease a spreading credit crunch. Anything but reassured, investors sent the Dow Jones Industrials Average plunging another 348 points lower.
Democratic and Republican leaders worked over wayward colleagues wherever they could find them.
Rep Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking House Democrat, said there was a "good prospect'' of approving the measure but stopped short of predicting passage - or even promising a vote. Nonetheless, the vote was expected on Friday.
"I'm going to be pretty confident that we have sufficient votes to pass this before we put it on the floor,'' Hoyer said.
The top Republican vote-counter, Rep Roy Blunt, predicted the measure would be approved.
Minds were changing in both parties about the much-maligned measure, which would let the government spend billions of dollars to buy bad mortgage-related securities and other devalued assets from troubled financial institutions. If the plan works, advocates say, that would allow frozen credit to begin flowing again and prevent a serious recession.
Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said she was switching her "nay'' vote to a "yay'' after the Senate added some $US110 million in tax breaks and other sweeteners before approving the measure Wednesday night.
"Monday what we had was a bailout for Wall Street firms and not much relief for taxpayers and hard-hit families. Now we have an economic rescue package,'' Ros-Lehtinen said.
Rep Zach Wamp, another of the 133 House Republicans who joined 95 Democrats Monday to reject the measure, also announced he was now onboard.
And Democratic Rep Emanuel Cleaver sent word he planned to change his vote to a ``yes'' the second time around. ``America feels differently today than it did on Friday about this bill, and he believes the House vote tomorrow will reflect that shift,'' said Danny Rotert, his spokesman.
Bush, meeting with business executives at the White House, told reporters that the increasingly tight credit markets are not just hitting big banks in New York City but threatening the existence of small businesses across the US Congress, he said, must listen to those arguing for passage of the bill.
The Senate breathed new life into the measure Wednesday after the stinging House defeat, voting 74-25 to approve the bailout, with additions designed to appeal to key constituencies.
The changes helped satisfy some Republican critics, but angered conservative "Blue Dog'' Democrats who are concerned about swelling the deficit. Still, Hoyer predicted the number of Democratic defectors "is going to be minimal.''
Emboldened by the feverish search for votes, members of both parties were demanding substantial changes to the legislation before they would vote for it.
A group of Republican opponents indicated they would back it if the price tag were slashed to $US250 billion and several special tax breaks added by the Senate were removed. Democrats wanted to add a way to pay for the bailout and more help for homeowners staring at foreclosure.
The leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said such revisions were impossible because they would slow the measure's enactment and further shake markets.
"I don't think that any changes here will do what we need to do, which is right now to send a message of confidence to the markets that Congress will act,'' she said.
AP
