The House succeeded in its second try to pass the $700 billion financial bailout package on Friday. President George W. Bush signed the measure into law by late afternoon. But three of four Central Texas lawmakers remained opposed to the revised bill, voting against it despite more than 50 other house members changing their votes to "yea". The bill passed 263-171.

"This was a tough vote," said U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin. "It separates the men from the boys."

McCaul, fellow Republican U.S. Rep. John Carter and Democratic U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett all voted against the measure. The only Austin-area member to support the bill was U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, who argued that constituents had too much retirement and savings at risk to not stabilize the markets.

"I don't think we could wait any longer to act. These are drastic measures, they are expensive measures, but quite frankly, the alternative was just not acceptable," Smith said.

McCaul said he favored private sector solutions instead of the bailout, which represents the largest government intervention in the markets since the Great Depression.

"Private sector, private ideas can fix this problem rather than use the government's money. It puts us a trillion dollars more in debt and saddles our children for a generation," McCaul said.

Doggett said he has gotten more constituent calls to his office this week than he did when Congress authorized the Iraq War. He says the opinions of constituents are mixed, but that he thought the bill was rushed and could have included alternatives more favorable to the taxpayer.

"When you get a poison in the financial system you need to pick the right antidote rather than just yielding to the demand of President Bush that we do it his way or no way," said Doggett.

Supporters argued they had to act swiftly, and the compromise was the best deal available.

"This was the only package we had to vote upon, and on the whole, and on balance, it is going to bring some stability to the stock market," Smith said.

The stock market closed down 157 points Friday as President Bush signed the bill into law.