House to debate financial bailout bill Friday: Hoyer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A controversial bill to provide $700 billion to help bail out Wall Street will be sent to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday for debate and a vote, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Thursday.

In announcing the action, Hoyer said he was "hopeful that there will be bi-partisan majority support" for the legislation. Earlier on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would not schedule the floor debate until she thought there were enough votes in hand to pass it.

On Monday, the House defeated the bailout plan. Since then, the Senate has passed it, and added in tax cuts and expanded federal insurance for bank deposits in the hopes of attracting enough additional votes in the House for final passage.

(Reporting by Rick Cowan, editing by Patricia Zengerle)