Earlier in the White House meeting, Democrats peppered House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio with questions about the details of an alternative he was backing. "I don't know what the hell they are," Bush said at one point," recalled one person who was in the room. All the participants spoke on condition of anonymity, saying the meeting was private.

Bush sought to coax the talks back to life on Friday, prodding lawmakers in a morning appearance to "rise to the occasion" — and quickly.

In a sign of progress, House Republicans dispatched their second-ranking leader, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, to join the talks after their objections to an emerging compromise had brought negotiations to a standstill the day before. They demanded "serious consideration" for their plan.

"We want to see a deal happen — there's no doubt about it," said Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.

The legislation the administration is promoting would allow the government to buy bad mortgages and other sour assets held by investors, most of them financial companies. That should make those companies more inclined to lend and lift a major weight off the national economy that is already sputtering.

But a significant number of lawmakers, including many House conservatives, say they're against such heavy federal intervention. Under the GOP plan, the government would insure the distressed securities rather than buy them. Tax breaks would provide additional incentives to invest.

The crisis was hardly limited to the U.S.

Bush held a lengthy Oval Office meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that focused on how the problems were spreading, then said, "I told him the plan is big enough to make a difference, and I believe it will be passed."

Presidential politics weighed heavily and unpredictably on the election-season effort to stave off a full-blown economic crisis.

After announcing earlier in the week he would suspend his campaign and return to the capital until there was an agreement, Republican McCain abruptly reversed course and departed for Friday night's debate with Democratic rival Obama.

There were fresh signs of urgency at both the White House and the Capitol, one day after the rancorous White House session and the collapse of Washington Mutual, the largest failure in U.S. banking history. The Seattle-based institution had invested heavily in the now-moribund mortgage market.

Still, the Dow Jones industrials rose 121 points for the day as investors anticipated a weekend agreement.