The House of Representatives is expected to vote Friday on a $700 billion economic bailout package that passed the Senate on Wednesday.

"Sweeteners" were added to a bill the House rejected on Monday in an effort to entice enough House members, particularly Republicans, to pass the plan.

Debate began Friday morning.

"I am hopeful that there will be bipartisan, majority support for this bill that is critical to stabilizing our nation's economy for all working Americans," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, said in a statement late Thursday.

On Wednesday, Hoyer said he would only bring the bill to the floor if, after talking with Republican leaders, he found "bipartisan majority support" for it.

The Senate approved the modified financial rescue plan in a 74-25 vote Wednesday night.

The Senate vote came two days after the House voted against the measure, 228-205. A majority of House Democrats voted for the bailout package, 140-95, but a majority of Republican members voted against the bill, 133-65.

The House rejection of the bailout bill sent financial markets tumbling and put pressure on lawmakers to find ways to pick up support for Friday's vote.

The added incentives -- a mix of tax extensions, an increase in federal deposit insurance and other measures -- include many items that are appealing to Republicans.

President Bush on Thursday urged the House to pass an "improved" bill.

Bush said the plan "has got the best chance" to help small-business owners function.

Congressmen who voted against the bill on Monday told The Associated Press that they might approve it on Friday.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida, told the AP the sweeteners had won her approval.

"Monday what we had was a bailout for Wall Street firms and not much relief for taxpayers and hard-hit families," Ros-Lehtinen told AP. "Now we have an economic rescue package."

"I hate it," but "inaction to me is a greater danger to our country than this bill," Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tennessee, told AP.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, who voted "no" on Monday, told AP he was close to approving the new version after discussions with his party's presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama.

"I've got a man who I'm hoping will be president who's saying that's he's going to do the very things that I want done. It makes me feel a lot better," he said.

After talking with Obama, Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, told fellow Democrats that he would support the bill this time.

"The reality has hit some members," Rep. Barney Frank, chief Democratic negotiator of the bill in the House, said. "The main change is reality. It's not possible now to scoff at the predictions of doom if we don't do anything."

Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated the House "will act in a bipartisan way to restore market confidence as well as Main Street's confidence in our economic future."

The modified bailout package included the core measures the House rejected -- a plan that would allow Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to buy up to $700 billion in bad mortgage-related securities and other bad assets that are undermining credit markets worldwide -- as well as a mix of other measures that previously passed in the Senate.

The bailout plan has new provisions, including an increase in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. cap from $100,000 to $250,000. It makes $250 billion immediately available to purchase bank assets, leaving $100 billion at the president's discretion and $350 billion subject to congressional review.

The bill also includes a "mental-health parity" provision, which would require health insurance companies to cover mental illness at parity with physical illness.

Because tax bills must originate in the House, the Senate attached the rescue plan to a bill that deals with renewable energy tax incentives. This allowed the Senate to vote before the House to approve a bailout bill.

Before Monday's vote, House members were bombarded with constituent calls in opposition to the bill. The calls to one Republican opponent of the measure, Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, were running 85 percent to 90 percent against the bailout, said Bill Smith, Pence's chief of staff.