在美国国会众议院星期五就救助美国金融机构的7千亿美元方案表决之前，对这项方案的支持看来正在增长。有关这项法案的程序问题已经在初步表决中获得通过。星期一曾投票反对最初方案的几名民主党和共和党议员现在表示，他们这次将投赞成票。众议院多数党领袖霍耶说，他认为这项法案获得批准的前景不错。这项方案做了一些修正，以便争取那些不情愿的议员的支持。这项方案对失败金融机构主管的薪酬进行限制，并提高了政府在银行倒闭时保护银行帐户存款的数额上限。
此外，这项方案规定对生产替代性能源的公司实行优惠税收政策。星期三，这项经过修订的法案在美国国会参议院轻易获得通过。布什总统一直在亲自说服众议员支持这项法案。众议院星期一否决这项法案后，股市大跌，使投资者的股票价值损失了1万亿美元。
Support for a 700 billion-dollar plan to rescue the U.S. financial sector appears to be growing in the U.S. House of Representatives, ahead of today’s (Friday’s) expected vote on the bailout package. The measure already has passed a preliminary vote on procedural issues. Several Democratic and Republican lawmakers who voted against an earlier version of the plan on Monday now say they will approve the measure. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he thinks there is a “good prospect” the bill will pass. The plan includes amendments designed to attract the support of reluctant lawmakers. It limits compensation for the heads of failed financial institutions, and increases the size of bank accounts protected by government insurance against bank failure. There also are tax breaks for alternative energy companies. The U.S. Senate easily passed the revised version on Wednesday.
President Bush has been personally lobbying House lawmakers to support the bill. Monday’s rejection of the bill in the House triggered a dramatic plunge on stock markets, costing investors one trillion dollars in stock values.