George W Bush spoke out yesterday, insisting that the bill's passing was necessary to stabilise the economy.
The US Senate votes tonight on the government's $700billion (£390bn) rescue plan for banks - an action which could have a profound effect on the British economy.
On Monday, Congress' other lawmaking body, the house of representatives, rejected the bailout package - which proposes the creation of a $700billion "bad bank", to buy up some of financial firms' most toxic assets. This would, it hopes, boost confidence in the financial sector and encourage banks to lend to each other more.
However, many US politicians expressed concern that the plan used too much public money and was unfair to taxpayers - and voted against it. The markets reacted to the news with near-panic, with New York's flagship Dow Jones index falling a record 777 points.
Yesterday, the index bounced back by 485 points, with investors hopeful of the plan being passed by the Senate. It has been amended by the lawmakers, and now raises the guarantee limit for savers to $250,000 (£140,000) and offers tax breaks to small businesses.
US president George W Bush called for the vote to be passed yesterday, saying that "decisive" government action was necessary to solve the economic crisis.
Writing to the president yesterday, house of representatives leader Nancy Pelosi and senator Harry Reid were upbeat on the bill, claiming that they were "confident" that they would "pass a responsible bill in the very near future".
