US Congress Approves Historic Bailout Bill, Bush Signs

U.S.President George W. Bush has signed into law a modified 700 billion US dollar bill to bail out the nation's teetering financial industry, shortly after it won final approval from Congress on Friday.

The plan won a comfortable margin, a sharp change from Monday, when an earlier measure went down in defeat.

Democrat Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher announced the vote.

"The yeahs are 263, the nays are 171. The motion is adopted. Without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table."

Before the vote, US Congress and Wall Street listened to daily dire warnings that failure to act would lead to the country's gravest economic crisis since the 1929 stock crash.

Bush clearly feels confident about the plan.

"By coming together on this legislation we have acted boldly to help prevent the crisis on Wall Street from becoming a crisis in communities across our county. We have shown the world that the United States of America will stabilize our financial markets and maintain a leading role in the global economy."

Earlier on Monday, the House voted down a similar bill. The Friday version of the bailout plan was sweetened with deals on tax breaks and job-creating policies, aimed at offsetting voters' concerns about the cost and workability of the plan.

Bush went on to say..

"I know some Americans have concerns about this legislation, especially about the government's role and the bill's cost. As a strong supporter of free enterprise, I believe government intervention should occur only when necessary. In this situation, action is clearly necessary."

Stocks opened higher Friday on Wall Street, but dropped more than 1 percent signaling the rescue plan has not eased investors' concerns.