The U.S. House did the right thing by endorsing the $700 billion rescue for the financial industry Friday in an effort to stabilize the economy.

The 263-171 vote was an about-face from a House vote rejecting a bailout package last Monday. Revisions in the measure following a Senate vote Wednesday approving the bailout helped seal the deal.

Fear of inaction perhaps was the greatest motivator. President Bush, legislative leaders and others have warned of dire economic consequences if rescue measures were not enacted.

Businesses were beginning to feel the pain of credit tightening up. The bailout empowers the government to purchase distressed mortgage investments and other sour assets from struggling financial institutions. The idea is to ease the credit crunch and free lending.

The Senate can be credited with leading the way after the measure failed in the House. Senators added $110 billion in tax breaks, including better protection for middle-class wage earners from the Alternative Minimum Tax. Senators lifted the cap on government bank deposit insurance from $100,000 to $250,000.

Tax breaks for renewable-energy enterprises were added as well as a program requiring the insurance industry to offer mental health coverage on a par with other medical benefits.

There are taxpayer protections, such as giving the U.S. government non-voting stock in firms that benefit from the program. Limits to executive pay are built in as well as oversight provisions. The Security and Exchange Commission eased accounting requirements for financial companies to show the deflated value of assets on their balance sheets.

After the stock market plummeted 777 points on Monday, public opinion began to change. Voters began to see the need for Congress to stabilize the financial system. Even Friday, the Dow Jones industrials dropped 157 points. The Labor Department delivered the bad news that 159,000 jobs were slashed in September, the largest drop in five years.

At last, Congress has proceeded as the Bush administration asked it to. "We have acted boldly to help prevent the crisis on Wall Street from becoming a crisis in communities across our country," President Bush said. "Our economy continues to face serious challenges."

Now we wait and see whether the remedy starts to work.