Pat Dollard | Young Americans

“Senior Democratic Senator Max Baucus predicted the changes would be enough to win passage in the House, probably on Friday. “I think we have turned the corner tonight,” he said.

But Democratic House Majority leader Steny Hoyer said the bill would only be brought to a vote if it was certain to pass.

Opponents of the bill in the House have expressed qualms about using vast amounts of taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street firms they blame for rash trading.”

Agencie French Press Coffee:

The US Senate passed a new 700-billion-dollar bailout of the debt-stricken financial system but European leaders agonised Thursday over a proposed emergency fund for ailing banks and money markets.
The Congress vote lifted European stock markets but Asian shares fell and central banks again had to use billions to keep markets moving.

US senators voted 74-25 late Wednesday to back an amended bailout, aiming to ease the credit crunch that has shaken the world economy, bankrupted Wall Street titans such as Lehman Brothers and hit banks around the world.

The vote increased pressure on the House of Representatives, which rejected a first version Monday, to pass the legislation.

President George W. Bush called on the House to vote before the end of the week to avoid further damage to the US economy. But the bill’s prospects were mixed.

“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.

Senators raised the ceiling on federal insurance for bank deposits from 100,000 dollars to 250,000 dollars, and added up to 100 billion dollars in tax break extensions.

They also restricted “golden parachute” severance payments to disgraced Wall Street executives.

Senior Democratic Senator Max Baucus predicted the changes would be enough to win passage in the House, probably on Friday. “I think we have turned the corner tonight,” he said.

But Democratic House Majority leader Steny Hoyer said the bill would only be brought to a vote if it was certain to pass.

Opponents of the bill in the House have expressed qualms about using vast amounts of taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street firms they blame for rash trading.

Asian stock markets fell. Japan’s main share index, the Nikkei-225, closed down 1.88 percent, at a three-year low, on worries about the financial crisis. But in Europe, London rose 1.56 percent, Paris climbed 1.31 percent and Frankfurt gained 0.91 percent.

The senate vote lifted the dollar to a 12 month high against the euro of 1.3856 dollars.

Highlighting the intense struggle to keep markets operating, the Bank of Japan injected another 1.6 trillion yen (15 billion dollars) into the financial system — its 12th straight daily injection.

The European Central Bank (ECB) renewed one-day loans of 50 billion dollars (35 billion euros) as part of its effort to keep cash flowing on distressed interbank markets.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso welcomed the US Senate’s backing of a vast rescue plan for the crisis-struck financial sector as a “step in the right direction”, a spokesman said.

The leaders of Europe’s main economies — Britain, France, Germany and Italy — will meet in Paris on Saturday to discuss the crisis and a Dutch proposal for a European rescue fund for banks.

Some reports have spoken of a 300 billion euro (420 billion dollar) fund, but Dutch government spokesman Hendrieneke Bolhaar would only say details are being discussed with other EU members.

France, while denying it was behind the emergency fund, has been keen to develop a European response to the credit crisis, which has spread round the world as credit markets choked up.

Other European nations have however preferred unilateral and bilateral measures to protect their own institutions. Huge bailouts were organised this week for Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis and French-Belgian bank Dexia.

The German finance ministry on Wednesday dismissed talk of a joint bailout fund.

After an all-night parliament session, Irish lawmakers passed a controversial emergency law guaranteeing bank deposits early Thursday, despite protests from other European countries.

Britain has argued that the guarantee, covering Ireland’s six main banks, is unfair amid fears of a surge in savings from British banks into Irish deposit accounts.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde criticised Ireland’s guarantee, saying: “A measure decided in one member state has to be shared in advance with other member states.”

Meanwhile, Japan’s Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa called for new pump-priming measures in addition to a supplementary budget already being discussed as Asia’s largest economy teeters on recession.

“The domestic economy is in a very severe situation and it is worsening,” Nakagawa told a meeting of his ruling-party faction, according to Jiji Press news agency.

From Politico, the list of who voted what:

Here’s the quick list of the senators who voted NO on bailout/economic rescue.

Allard (R)
Barasso (R)
Brownback (R)
Bunning (R)
Cantwell (D)
Cochran (R)
Crapo (R)
DeMint (R)
Dole (R)
Dorgan (D)
Enzi (R)
Feingold (D)
Inhofe (R)
Johnson (D)
Landrieu (D)
Nelson (FL) (D)
Roberts (R)
Sanders (I)
Sessions (R)
Shelby (R)
Stabenow (D)
Tester (D)
Vitter (R)
Wicker (R)
Wyden (D)

And here’s the complete Senate roll call vote. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who is recovering from a brain tumor, was the only senator who did not vote.