Bailout passes Senate, House foes soften
After one spectacular failure, the $700 billion financial industry bailout found a second life Wednesday, winning lopsided passage in the Senate and gaining ground in the House, where Republicans opposition softened.
Senators loaded the economic rescue bill with tax breaks and other sweeteners before passing it by a wide margin, 74-25, a month before the presidential and congressional elections.
After one spectacular failure, the $700 billion financial industry bailout found a second life Wednesday, winning lopsided passage in the Senate and gaining ground in the House, where Republicans opposition softened.
Senators loaded the economic rescue bill with tax breaks and other sweeteners before passing it by a wide margin, 74-25, a month before the presidential and congressional elections.
In the House, leaders were working feverishly to convert enough opponents of the bill to push it through by Friday, just days after lawmakers there rejected an earlier version and sent markets plunging around the globe.
The measure didn’t cause the same uproar in the Senate, where both parties’ presidential candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, made rare appearances to cast “aye” votes, as did Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.
In the final vote, 40 Democrats, 33 Republicans and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut voted “yes.” Nine Democrats, 15 Republicans and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont voted “no.”
Brief by The Associated Press
