WASHINGTON — The Senate voted reluctantly but solidly in favor of a modified $700-billion Wall Street rescue plan Wednesday, but it remained uncertain whether the legislation -- even with a carefully designed package of tax breaks -- would withstand the fierce crosswinds of liberal and conservative resistance in the House later this week.
The measure passed the Senate 74 to 25, with a majority of Democrats and Republicans voting in favor -- among them presidential nominees Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain. The centerpiece of the legislation gives the government the authority to buy up billions of dollars of the "toxic" assets, primarily mortgage-backed securities, that have poisoned financial markets and threaten to contaminate the rest of the economy.
"This rescue package . . . is not for the titans of Wall Street. It's not for those whose greed got us here, who chose greed over prudence," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). "It's for families across Nevada and across America who are fighting to keep their jobs, save their homes and make one paycheck last until another one."
The Senate action came two days after House members, facing reelection in a few weeks and confronted by calls and letters from angry constituents, rejected an earlier version of the plan and sent the stock market into a tailspin. The House will take up the new bill Friday morning.
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said the package approved by the Senate had a "much better chance" of passing the House than the measure that was defeated Monday by a vote of 228 to 205. But he said he was "not taking anything for granted."
"I do think that the big [stock market] drop on Monday really had a chilling effect on a lot of our members and a lot of their constituents," Boehner said on Fox News.
The market reaction, compounded by opinion polls suggesting that the public was more confused by the plan than opposed to it, led the Senate to add provisions in hope of attracting enough votes to pass both chambers this week.
Some additions were meant to appeal to a broad range of Americans, such as a hike in the limit for federally insured bank deposits to $250,000 from the current $100,000 and the move to shield 24 million households from paying the alternative minimum tax.
Others were aimed at narrower interests to win the votes of specific lawmakers, such as a tax break to encourage Hollywood studios to do more filming in the United States.
