Bailout Plan Passes House

Key Lawmakers Switch Sides to Seal Deal in 263 to 171 Vote

On a day that saw Wells Fargo (WFC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) and Citigroup (C | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) bidding for Wachovia (WB | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), politicians were in a similarly rescue-oriented mood as the House of Representatives, which defeated a Wall Street bailout package on Monday, ended the week by voting 263 to 171 in favor of a Senate-drafted proposal to provide hundreds of billions to help restore confidence in American credit markets.

The House had defeated a similar measure by a vote of 228 to 205 on Monday. The Senate version approved today had a number of significant differences - some of which was derided by critics as pork barrel spending required to win the support of a number of House members.

Pork or no, the House leadership was able to persuade enough Democrats and Republicans to change their votes in order to assure package of the controversial legislation. President Bush - as well as Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama - has spoken in favor of the bill and urged members of the House of Representatives to vote for it.

Though still higher on the day, stocks sold off somewhat immediately after the vote. At one point the Dow industrials were up more than 300 points. After the vote, the Dow was trading more than 40% lower.

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