Senate leaders hoping to salvage the $700 billion financial bailout package accepted a higher limit for insured bank deposits - and tax breaks for businesses and alternative energy - in a bid to win House approval and send the legislation to President George W. Bush by the end of the week.

"It has been determined, in our judgment, this is the best thing to move forward," said Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada and the majority leader, in announcing the surprise move. The vote was scheduled for Wednesday night.

The lawmakers were gambling that the tax package would appeal to lawmakers who helped sink the measure in the House on Monday, without driving off Democrats who have opposed extending tax incentives without offsetting spending cuts elsewhere.

House Democratic leaders reacted cautiously to the new approach, with Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader and a chief advocate of paying for the tax breaks, saying, "I am talking with my House colleagues about the Senate action and how to best proceed."

On television Wednesday morning, Hoyer said he was concerned that the tax issues could complicate the chances of passage when the legislation comes back to the House floor for another vote.

"There's no doubt the tax package is very controversial," he said, according to The Associated Press. "There's no doubt in my mind that the Senate added this because they thought that's the only way they could get it passed."

He said, however, that he was not pleased the tax provisions were attached to the bill.

But House Republican leaders, who said they had been advised about the Senate plan, said the new elements would appeal to their rank-and-file members, who voted strongly against the legislation Monday. A spokesman for Representative John Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, said "Boehner was consulted and gave the green light."

Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the Republican whip, said Wednesday that prospects for passage had improved with the changes made by the Senate. According to The Associated Press, Blunt said one reason he was more optimistic was that lawmakers were hearing less vocal opposition from their districts.

Senator Christopher Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut and chairman of the banking committee, said the Senate decided to move quickly, referring to signs of regret from some House members after markets fell in response to their initial vote.

"I think their will is coming back, having heard from their constituents," Dodd said.

As they explored ways to tinker with the proposal in consultation with the Bush administration, all sides agreed any revisions would not change the underlying concept of granting the Treasury Department access to up to $700 billion to purchase and later resell troubled securities clogging the financial system.

It was a delicate balancing act for the architects of the proposal who had to be careful that in adding elements to entice new support they did not lose the support they already had.

The Senate proposal would cost more than $100 billion and extend and expand many individual and business tax breaks, including tax credits for the production and use of renewable energy sources, like solar energy and wind power.

The bill would also extend the business tax credit for research and development, expand the child tax credit, protect millions of families from the alternative minimum tax and provide tax relief to victims of recent floods, tornadoes and severe storms.

Members of the House and the Senate said the bill would create tens of thousands of jobs and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. But the two chambers have been at odds over whether and how to offset the cost of extending the many tax breaks covered by the legislation.

With no new vote in the House even possible before lawmakers reconvene Thursday, strategists for both parties were poring over tally sheets from 228-to-205 vote Monday, trying to identify lawmakers who could switch their votes.

But winning over some determined opponents was not going to be easy.

"It was one of the best votes of my career," said Representative Peter DeFazio of Oregon, leader of a group of liberal Democratic opponents of the Treasury plan who on Tuesday proposed a series of regulatory and legislative alternatives to the bailout.

But those Democratic opponents did say they would be willing to back an increase to $250,000 from $100,000 in the amount of a bank deposit that would be insured by the federal government - an idea that gained fast currency as a consensus change in the initial plan. (Page 19)

House officials were considering their own changes, including an extension of unemployment pay and a $1,000 tax credit for less affluent homeowners. But those plans were likely to be blocked by Senate Republicans.