Lawmakers Revise Rescue Plan

"I am disappointed by the outcome" of the House vote, Bush said. Appearing drawn and frustrated, he noted that Monday's stock market dive cost more in market capitalization -- more than $1 trillion -- than his $700 billion rescue proposal.

"The reality is that we are in an urgent situation, and the consequences will grow worse each day if we do not act," Bush said. "Our economy is depending on decisive action from the government. . . . This is what elected leaders owe the American people," he added.

The effort at mending fences began Monday night when White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten held one-on-one meetings on Capitol Hill with key leaders, including House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).

Boehner spent all day yesterday contacting many of the 133 Republicans who voted against the package. Face-to-face negotiations are slated to resume today, with Hoyer and Blunt expected to sit down for an extensive meeting to discuss alterations to the bill. Official business was put on hold in both chambers yesterday in observation of the Jewish New Year.

The FDIC provision, which would raise the insurance cap for bank accounts to $250,000 from the current $100,000, was discussed during weekend negotiations in Pelosi's office but was not included in the final package. But in what negotiators from both parties considered a critical breakthrough, the largest banking lobby in Washington embraced the idea. "We now see this as a way to help the package pass," said Ed Yingling, president of the American Bankers Association.

While the move would result in banks paying higher fees on their insurance premiums, advocates say it would provide important assurances to small businesses that keep large sums of cash in bank accounts and are reeling from the credit crunch. "We are having an awful lot of people come into banks and ask questions," Yingling said.

McCain and Obama announced yesterday morning that they would support the insurance cap increase. Later in the day, FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair asked Congress for temporary authority to raise the limit by an unspecified amount.

Tensions boiled over after the House vote Monday, when Republican leaders blamed Pelosi for delivering a partisan speech before the roll was called. Democrats called the charge absurd, and Blunt and Boehner eventually backed away from it. While Blunt had expected about 75 Republicans to support the plan, Boehner said the number had plunged to the mid-60s before Pelosi's speech. Instead, Blunt said, maybe a "couple" of votes were affected by the speech, and the rest of the dissenters were just "looking for that final reason that they don't need to do what they intended to do."

The tone was far different yesterday. Pelosi and Reid issued a joint statement asserting confidence that a bipartisan effort will produce "a responsible bill in the very near future."

Some GOP supporters said Monday's market collapse served as a needed wake-up call. "We sort of have to get hit in the face with it," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).

But lawmakers also conceded that they hadn't effectively sold the plan, and senators sought to illustrate the severity of the crisis in a series of striking personal stories that they relayed on the chamber floor.

"I'm hearing from towns and municipalities throughout Kentucky that can't find the money to finance new schools and other civic projects, and from farmers and small-business owners who are suddenly being told by their banks that a long-term loan is due," McConnell said. "Others are being pressured to pay more, or well ahead of schedule. And these are people with good credit."

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) tried a new analogy, describing the crisis as a car wreck. "So what we're going to do as a government is take that accident off the highway and let the commerce flow again, and then we're going to take the cars that were in the accident, those cars that are all mangled, we're going to repair them a little bit and we're going to resell them."

Staff writer Dan Eggen contributed to this report.