WASHINGTON  The Senate on Wednesday upped pressure on the House to pass a $700 billion rescue for Wall Street by strongly approving a plan that supporters said would avert a potential economic disaster.

In a maneuver to reverse a stinging House rejection of the plan, the Senate piggybacked the bailout plan on several other popular measures: an increase in federal deposit insurance limits, expanded health coverage for mental illnesses and a bill extending several tax breaks set to expire at year's end.

ROLL CALL: How the senators voted

The Senate passed the package on a bipartisan 74-25 vote. "Help is on the way," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office said the House will vote on the Senate bill by Friday. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., predicted President Bush will be able to sign the bill "by the end of this week."

There are indications that the strong Senate vote and added sweeteners may be causing some House opponents to reconsider. "I am probably going to be a reluctant 'yes' vote," said Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona, among the 133 Republicans who voted "no" on Monday.

However, some Democrats, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., are questioning the tax package because it isn't paid for. The Congressional Budget Office estimates it would increase the federal deficit nearly $110 billion by 2018.

The bailout package gives Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sweeping authority to help troubled financial firms by buying up their shaky assets.

HOUSE SEATS: Tight races feel bailout fallout

Among those senators voting "yes" were presidential rivals John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, D-Del.

"This is not just a Wall Street crisis. It's an American crisis," Obama said in his first Senate speech since May. McCain did not make a Senate floor speech. Earlier in Missouri, he said "the gears of our economy will grind to a halt" without action.

Opposition spanned the ideological spectrum. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said the bailout is "leading our country into the pit of socialism." Meanwhile, the Senate's self-styled socialist, Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the bill helps financiers "drunk with greed."

Besides the economic rescue plan, the final Senate-passed bill includes:

• Authority for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to insure bank deposits up to $250,000. The current limit is $100,000.

• An extension of business tax breaks — including one to protect middle-class wage-earners from a bigger tax bite under the alternative minimum tax.

• A bill requiring health insurers to offer mental health coverage on a par with other medical benefits.

After a week of angry phone calls and e-mails, the tide began to turn. Bill Novelli, head of AARP, said members of the senior citizens' group sent 110,000 e-mails to Congress, urging intervention. "People can't afford to wait 10 years for this economy to turn around," Novelli said.

House leaders planned to spend Thursday pressing rank-and-file members for the dozen converts they need.

They were especially targeting the 133 House Republicans who voted against the package.

California's David Dreier said Thursday morning that "I hated" the initial version of the bill but that he plans to vote for it this time around.

"I was very concerned with the proposal that came forward that would have allowed golden parachutes to go forward," said Dreier, a Republican. But he said he likes the new version because "it puts into place growth-oriented tax cuts."

"I will tell you, the American people are angy and frustrated," he said on ABC's Good Morning America," saying he's been hearing messages like "the woman who said she was concerned about getting access to a student loan for her daughter."

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat, said on the same program that she plans to vote no.

"I will not support this legislation because it's the wrong medicine," she said. Kaptur argued that the problem should be solved by the market itself, not through governmental intervention.

Contributing: David Jackson and Barbara Hagenbaugh, USA TODAY; the Associated Press