President Bush signed into law Friday the $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, which passed the U.S. House earlier in the day. It passed without the help of U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., and four of the other eight Indiana congressmen.
By a vote of 263-171, the House approved the Senate version of the historic measure that added a $100 billion tax relief package to the bill that House members had turned down Monday.
Visclosky was one of the 62 Democratic House members to vote with 108 Republicans against the massive rescue measure. But it passed Friday after nearly 30 congressmen changed their original no vote on the legislation.
Bush signed the bill aimed at bailing out tattered Wall Street and getting credit markets across the nation moving again. It was a lightning-fast turnaround between Capitol Hill passage and presidential signature, as the bill had been given Congress' final blessing less than an hour and half before.
On Monday, Visclosky voted with other House members who were opposed to the financial bailout plan. At the time, Visclosky said Congress should "conduct a comprehensive examination of alternative solutions."
He remained opposed to the legislation aimed at shoring up the financial industry despite the Senate's addition of the tax relief package and intense lobbying for the bill from President Bush, House leaders and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
"At the heart of today's bill was the same flawed bailout plan I voted against on Monday," Visclosky said in a statement Friday. "I support some of the additions, like raising FDIC insurance coverage to $250,000, disaster assistance benefits and mental health parity. ... From my perspective, today's bill was not improved, and I could not vote for it."
U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., another local Democratic congressman who had voted against the original bailout plan, changed his mind and helped pass the package through the House on Friday.
Jackson said he supported the measure after getting assurances from Obama his administration would aggressively regulate predatory lending and force mortgage modifications to prevent foreclosures.
"Congress must stabilize the economy, or we'll see more Americans facing foreclosures, layoffs and bankruptcy," Jackson said.
Bruce MacLean, director of Valparaiso University's graduate business program, said he was relieved by the House vote.
"Now is the time to put structure on how the money will be spent," the professor said. "We have to focus on purchasing mortgages and mortgages and eliminate adjustable rate subprime mortgages where all the foreclosures are. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) has to put boundaries -- ceiling and floors -- on the new derivative securities, setting the limits to restrict the upside in order to minimize the downside."
MacLean said the legislation was hard for many congressmen to swallow, but it had to be passed to stop further deterioration of the country's financial institutions.
"A lot of (congressmen) voted no and prayed yes," MacLean said.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
