WASHINGTON (Sept. 29) - The House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue package, ignoring urgent pleas from President Bush and bipartisan congressional leaders to quickly bail out the staggering financial industry.
Stocks plummeting on Wall Street even before the 228-205 vote to reject the bill was announced on the House floor.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., center, announced Sunday that lawmakers and members of the Bush administration reached an agreement on an unprecedented $700 billion bailout package for Wall Street. Go inside the gallery to get the details on the plan and reaction.
When the critical vote was tallied, too few members of the House were willing to support the unpopular measure with elections just five weeks away. Ample no votes came from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle.
Bush and a host of leading congressional figures had implored the lawmakers to pass the legislation despite howls of protest from their constituents back home.
The bailout puts in place an unprecedented federal program to buy up rotten assets from cash-starved firms. The goal is to free up choked credit that was threatening to cause broader market turmoil.
A key architect conceded the bill's unpopularity.
"Many of us feel that the national interest requires us to do something which is, in many ways, unpopular," said Rep. Barney Frank, the Financial Services Committee chairman. "It is hard to get political credit for avoiding something that has not yet happened."
For more on this issue, click on the link below:
House Fails to Pass Huge Bailout Deal
Edit: And here's the latest from the stock market.
Stocks crushed
Dow down 778, worst point drop ever, after the House rejects the $700 billion bank bailout plan.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks skidded Monday afternoon, with the Dow's nearly 778-point drop being the worst single-day point loss ever, after the House rejected the government's $700 billion bank bailout plan
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