Sweetened Bailout Bill Sails Through House

"I applaud the action taken by the Congress," Bernanke said in a statement. "It demonstrates the government's commitment to do what it takes to support and strengthen our economy. The legislation is a critical step toward stabilizing our financial markets and ensuring an uninterrupted flow of credit to households and businesses."

The provisions stand to sap tax revenue and increase the amount of money the government is potentially on the hook for -- something that cost-conscious, fiscally conservative legislators who formed the bulk of the opposition to the plan may oppose.

Joe Barton (R., Texas) told CNBC that he voted again against the financial rescue plan, saying that the bill didn't change radically from the version rejected earlier in the week.

"It didn't fundamentally address the problem," Barton said. "We simply put $2 trillion of taxpayer money at risk ... We didn't do anything to help minimize the risk to the taxpayer with a revenue offset in this bill."

Adam Putnam (R., Fla.) said during an interview with CNBC before the vote that the bill is not geared toward helping the stock market but instead towards unlocking the credit markets.

"The psychology is an important piece [but] we should not use the Dow as our only barometer on this issue," Putnam said. He did add that the bill lost some "yes" votes due to the add-ons from the Senate.

Retirement funds and investments took big hits on Monday when the Dow plunged a whopping 777 points, or 7%, after the House rejected the measure, and credit markets have tightened up dramatically, making it harder for consumers and small businesses to get loans. Lawmakers were reportedly more receptive to the rescue bill following Monday's swoon.

The tone of media coverage has also shifted, from commonly referring to the measure as a Wall Street "bailout" at first, to now calling it a "rescue plan" or "intervention," while making an effort to explain its potential benefits to the U.S. economy.

The year-long credit crunch reached crisis proportions early last month, with a bankruptcy filing by Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch's (MER Quote) sale to Bank of America (BAC Quote) and government takeovers of AIG (AIG Quote), Fannie Mae (FNM Quote) and Freddie Mac (FRE Quote).

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