It did not appear that the measure would come up for a second vote on Monday.

The bailout plan would have empowered the Treasury Department to take over bad mortgage debt from banks’ balance sheets in order to spur them into lending again. The legislation was the result of days of intense talks between the White House and congressional leaders, who agreed Sunday to a public bailout of the ailing financial industry after lawmakers insisted on sharing spending controls with the Bush administration.

The House held open its vote on the bailout plan well after the allotted time had expired; 228 lawmakers voted against the bill and 205 voted in favor.

In the final analysis, lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum appeared to have reservations against the plan: Ninety-four Democrats and 132 Republicans voted “nay.”

In a press conference shortly after the measure failed, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio said that House Republicans had no choice but to continue to work with Democrats to find a way to save the economy.
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But Boehner and other House Republican leaders blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for derailing the vote with a speech near the close of the debate in which she blamed “the Bush administration’s failed economic policies” for the current economic mess. Boehner accused Pelosi of speaking with a “partisan voice that poisoned” the proceedings. Added Republican Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, “There’s a reason that this vote failed — and that is Speaker Pelosi’s speech.”

However, Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts said Republicans had revolted against the Bush administration, which called for the dramatic rescue plan.

“The Republicans don’t trust the administration,” he said. “It’s a Republican revolt against George Bush and John McCain.”

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said President Bush was “very disappointed” in the outcome of the vote.

“There’s no question that the country is facing a difficult crisis that needs to be addressed,” Fratto said.

Rep. Gary Miller, a Republican from California, said he understands why many of his colleagues may be reluctant to vote for the bailout legislation:

“Now, we can roll dice. Today, we can say, ‘Let’s not vote and let’s hope everything goes OK.’ For members, it’s a very difficult situation. They say, ‘If I vote for this bill and the bill passes, and the marketplace does not crash, it continues and improves, people are going to be mad at me because I voted to continue the process they think is bad.’ ”

Miller said he supported the bill. Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling said he opposed it. “As important as it is to act quickly, it is more important to act rightly,” Hensarling said.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged during the vote, as it became apparent that the plan was likely to fail.

On one of the worst days in memory on Wall Street, the Dow briefly fell more than 700 points before rebounding slightly. The Nasdaq fell about 6 percent, while the S&P 500 was down more than 7 percent.

Stocks were already lower on Monday after Wachovia Corp. became the latest major U.S. bank to succumb to the global credit crisis when it agreed to sell most of its assets to Citigroup.

In Europe, anxiety about the fallout from the U.S. financial meltdown grew on news that Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg pledged more than $16 billion to Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis NV to keep it from insolvency.