WASHINGTON (AFP) — Top lawmakers were optimistic Friday that the House of Representatives would shortly pass a revised 700-billion-dollar Wall Street bailout, after igniting market turmoil by rejecting an earlier version.
Republican Party leaders emerged from a meeting of their caucus saying that they hoped the bill would pass, but still declined to give a cast-iron assurance they had the required numbers.
"I am optimistic about today," said Republican House Minority leader John Boehner, who Democrats accused of failing to get his party into line behind the bailout when the chamber sensationally rejected the bailout on Monday.
"We are not taking anything for granted, we will continue to talk to our members."
House Minority whip Roy Blunt said that the pain of the deepening credit squeeze was now being felt by the public, altering political perceptions of what had been a highly unpopular bill .
"Calls to members officers are beginning to even out, people are beginning to realise this has impacts on their pension plans."
Rahm Emanuel, a senior member of the House Democratic leadership spoke out in support the bill from the House floor, trying to win over wavering members of his party by promising more help for vulnerable Americans.
"This is only the first step. While we address the balance sheets of banks, the next step must now address the checkbooks for middle class families and the struggles that they face," he said.
The Senate passed a revised version of the bailout package 74-25 on Wednesday, including sweetners on extending bank deposit insurance and expired tax breaks in order to get more Republicans behind the legislation.
Only 85 Republicans voted for the bailout in the 228 to 205 defeat for the bailout on Monday, and Democratic House leaders say they need 100 members of the minority party to ensure passage.
There were also signs that some Democratic members of Congress might be wavering in their 'no' vote against the bailout, as the party leadership rolled out an intense whipping operation.
Many lawmakers Friday voiced deep skepticism whether the new measure would work, while bleakly concluding that the bill was a necessary evil.
"There's a song the day the music died. I don't think it is too much of a stretch to say this may be the day America died," Republican Virginia Foxx said Friday.
"I'm not alone in feeling that what the Congress is about to do today is a very, very serious consequential thing for this country."
The debate resumed amid more shocking news for the world's largest economy which shed some 159,000 jobs in September as the weight of the housing collapse and credit crunch hit a broad swath of industries.
The unemployment rate held at 6.1 percent, a five-year high, with payrolls having fallen by 760,000 this year, the Labor Department said.
Global stocks had sank heavily early Friday with losses in Asia as some lawmakers continued to make known their opposition to using vast amounts of taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street firms.
The amended version of the plan is laced with 150 billion dollars in tax breaks to coax reluctant lawmakers from both the Democratic and the Republican parties to get on board.
Just over a month from election day, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain also backed the effort, piling on the pressure after rejection of the bill sent global markets into a spin, causing the largest one-day loss ever on the Dow Jones.
President George W. Bush Thursday joined the groundswell of pressure, urging the House to follow the Senate's lead and approve the massive rescue package, warning "people's jobs are in jeopardy."
The new rescue bill, like the earlier one rejected by the House, gives the US Treasury power to buy up toxic mortgage debt which has been choking the financial industry.
It would essentially create a 700-billion dollar federal program to buy bad assets from banks and other financial firms at a steep discount.
Backers of the legislation said they hope the federal government will eventually be able to recoup most or all of the money by selling the assets later.
To make the bill more attractive, the Senate raised the ceiling on federal insurance for bank deposits from 100,000 dollars to 250,000 dollars, and added up to 150 billion dollars in tax break extensions for middle class families and business.
They also retained the limits of "golden parachute" severance payments to disgraced Wall Street executives.
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