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US Senate passes 700-billion-dollar bailout

02 October 2008 08:29 (UTC +04:00)

APA reports quoting AFP that the Senate voted 74-25 to back the amended Bush administration bailout plan, designed to ease a deepening credit freeze and volatility on global stock markets spawned by the crisis on Wall Street.
Just over a month from election day, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain also backed the effort, piling pressure on the House, which sent shockwaves around the world on Monday by rejecting the package.
President George W. Bush welcomed the passage of the bill, and called on the House to act in the next two days to avoid further damage to the US economy, amid conflicting signals over the bill’s prospects.
"The American people expect and our economy demands that the House pass this good bill this week and send it to my desk," Bush said in a statement.
The Senate sweetened the original deal, which gives the US Treasury the power to buy up toxic mortgage debt choking the financial industry, to court conservative Republicans who helped block the original version in the House.
They raised the ceiling on federal insurance for bank deposits from 100,000 dollars to 250,000 dollars, and extended some expired tax breaks for small businesses.