WASHINGTON -- U.S. lawmakers took the final steps towards to the most dramatic federal intervention in the financial markets since the Great Depression on Monday, taking to the floor of the House of Representatives to give impassioned pleas for and against a $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan.

The bill fell short of the necessary support, however, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 700 points as "no" votes mounted. The Dow later recovered part of those losses, trading down around 380 points to 10760. As the vote ended, nays stood at 228 and yeas stood at 205.

When the critical vote was tallied, too few members of the House were willing to support the unpopular measure with elections just five weeks away. Ample no votes came from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle.

The legislation was finalized Sunday after exhaustive negotiations between lawmakers and the Bush administration over the past week. A Senate vote to pass the bill and send it to President George W. Bush for his signature had been expected on Wednesday at the earliest.

"It will be an effective intervention to restore the confidence necessary to avoid the kind of panic we haven't seen in this country for decades," Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida, the chairman of the House Republican Conference, said during a floor speech earlier in the day.

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) said lawmakers need to act to avoid a "more dismal future" for the nation's economy. "The consequences will be severe" if we fail to act, said Rep. Frank, who was the key negotiator for the House on the legislation.

Getty Images

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd.

But it was clear that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle were skittish about voting on such a dramatic piece of legislation a little more than a month before the November elections. Polls have shown voters are wary of the plan to rescue financial firms by having the federal government buy up hundreds of billions of dollars of toxic assets, and many members described Monday's decision as a "legacy vote" similar to the decision to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

"Only a couple of a times in a decade are we asked to stand up and be counted. This is one of those historic moments," Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D., Pa.) said.

Rep. Gary Miller, a Republican from California, called it "probably the hardest vote" many lawmakers would take. His colleague, Rep. Tom Davis (R., Va.), agreed, but said it was a necessary evil. "I wish there was a better way but I haven't seen it," Rep. Davis said. "If this bill goes down I don't think most of my colleagues want ownership of what follows."

Still, both Democrats and Republicans made clear they would oppose the legislation despite efforts of negotiators to satisfy a number of constituencies.

"Why isn't Wall Street paying for the mess they created?" Rep. Lynn Woolsey, (D., Calif.), asked during a floor speech.

Michigan Republican Thaddeus McCotter was more philosophical, making what he said was a reference to the Dostoevsky novel "The Brothers Karamazov" in expressing his opposition to the bill.

"These interests who want your money threaten your prosperity," Mr. McCotter said. "You are being asked to choose between bread and freedom and I suggest the American people have chosen freedom."