They are using enticements, phone calls, old-fashioned arm twisting. They bring a keen knowledge of what spending needs to be added to the package to persuade a particular congressman to flip, whether it has much to do with Wall Street or not.

'This is sausage-making, of course,' said Ms Jade West, lobbyist for the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors.

The process of adding 'sweeteners', such as tax breaks and other spending, has also made the plan a more expensive one. Add about US$120 billion (S$173 billion) over five years the Senate is attaching to the US$700 billion price tag of the bailout plan that the House voted down on Monday.

The 'no' voters of Monday are under tremendous pressure to just say 'yes' now. The combined leadership of both parties in Congress is united behind the plan, President George W. Bush is making calls, and interest groups are putting pressure on lawmakers.

'Leaning yes - NEEDS MORE CALLS,' a trade association list says of one Republican lawmaker.

Of another, the list says: '(Undecided), but positive. Sales tax impt.'

That is a reference to a provision added by the Senate that would allow taxpayers to deduct state and local sales taxes, enormously popular in Tennessee, Texas, Florida and a few other states.

And there's more, much more.

For Western Republican lawmakers, there is help for rural counties. And Republicans are excited about new accounting rules to ease bank liquidity and plans to boost deposit insurance coverage.

The assorted add-ons, mostly tax measures, include energy-related provisions, business tax breaks, a one-year fix of the alternative minimum tax and tax relief for victims of recent disasters.

Meantime, the phone calls from constituents, overwhelmingly against the bailout before, are more evenly divided. People who saw the bailout as strictly a Wall Street sweetheart deal have a more nuanced view now that have seen their retirement and other investment accounts tank after the House defeated the bill.

'Pain is always a good way to focus people,' said Mr R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce.

Some are preparing for a politically painful switch.

For Mr Steve LaTourette, the boost in Federal Deposit Insurance limits from US$100,000 to US$250,000 and the move by the Securities and Exchange Commission easing accounting rules for banks has the Ohio Republican leaning toward switching to 'yes,' even as calls to his office were at one point running 200-1 against.

He is also close friends with Republican leader John Boehner, for whom passage of the bill is a key leadership test.

'To have to say 'no' to Boehner was really hard,' said Mr LaTourette. 'To say 'no' on the bill was not so hard. It was bad politics and bad policy.'

But he added: 'If we hadn't defeated it the other day, we wouldn't have the FDIC stuff,' nor the change in accounting rules.

'So I think this bill is improving.' Rep Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, fielded a call from Bush urging him to switch. Mr Cuellar says the extension of tax breaks for businesses and individuals, and allowing people to deduct sales tax payments, has him 'seriously considering' voting for it.

'We're looking at more of a broader-based economic recovery plan instead of just paying for the sins of those five companies on Wall Street,' Mr Cuellar said.

Others won't be moved. For them, the issue is still the unprecedented bailout of Wall Street.

'The bill that they are going to send back is the same bill that I voted against two days ago,' said Republican Rep Joe Barton, on Bloomberg Television. 'Why would I turn around and vote for it tomorrow evening or Friday?'

Working off a colu-coded spread sheet listing House members whose 'no' votes sank the bill in that chamber on Monday, business groups contacted dozens of lawmakers - at home and in Washington - to seek their support.

By late afternoon, that list showed five legislators who had voted 'no' now leaning toward supporting an overhauled version of the bill the House rejected by 23 votes.

Efforts by the National Restaurant Association were typical of how many trade groups were working to round up votes.

Besides contacting lawmakers directly in Washington, the organisation asked its 50 state chapters and its 18,000 most active members around the country to contact their members of Congress directly.

The Solar Energy Industries Association stepped into the fray, focusing on about 70 House members who voted 'no' from places where solar energy manufacturers or solar energy users are important.

That includes California, New Jersey, New York, Arizona and Ohio, said Mr Rhone Resch, the group's president. -- AP