Three Pennsylvania Republicans who originally opposed a $700 billion rescue bill for the financial markets switched their votes yesterday, adding to a lopsided win for the bill whose defeat four days earlier sent financial markets into a spin.

"My biggest concern was that we move forward and pass something," said Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Blair, explaining the switch in his vote. "If not, there are going to be job losses -- significant job losses."

Mr. Shuster was joined by two GOP colleagues, Rep. Charlie Dent of Lehigh County and Rep. Jim Gerlach of Chester County.

The shifts followed a series of conference calls, including a Wednesday talk with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who made the case that further congressional inaction would freeze credit markets, paralyze businesses and tip an already teetering economy.

Remaining in the "no" column were Reps. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, and Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair. Both are in tight re-election races.

Mr. Altmire is facing a rematch with Melissa Hart, the Republican he unseated two years ago in the 4th District, and Mr. Altmire is being challenged by Steve O'Donnell for his seat in the 18th District.

Mr. Murphy said he supported most of the tax relief provisions tacked onto the bill, as well as an increase in insurance on bank deposits.

"What I don't support is putting the taxpayer on the hook for $700 billion of bad debt," he said.

Locally, Reps. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, and John P. Murtha, D-Johnstown, again supported the bill, which would authorize the secretary of the treasury to seek funding for up to $700 billion to bail out shaky financial markets in hopes of easing a crunch on available credit.

"I can't get my head around doing nothing," Mr. Doyle said as he prepared to cast his vote. He spoke of encountering an official from PNC, the Pittsburgh-based financial institution, earlier this week.

"He said, 'Mike, we're not lending money,'" Mr. Doyle said.

House leaders had said they needed to pick up at least 14 new votes to pass the measure, but more than quadrupled that margin.

"We picked up 58 additional votes, which surprised me," Mr. Doyle said. "Hopefully this will send a signal to the markets to stabilize those markets."

Of Pennsylvania's 19 House members, 12 supported the bill and seven voted against it.

Among other provisions tucked into the bailout is a move to raise the earnings ceiling to spare millions of taxpayers from facing the alternative minimum tax.

Mr. Altmire said the rescue bill, while including the AMT feature as well as tax credits for alternative energy and a one-year rise in federal insurance on bank deposits from $100,000 to $250,000, was fundamentally flawed.

"Fundamentally, I agree there's a problem. I don't dispute that we're in a credit crisis, but I just don't think this bill is a solution," he said.

Those views were echoed by Republican Phil English of Erie, who called the FDIC and tax credit extensions "a rumba line of fig leaves" on a bad piece of legislation. He voted against the measure yesterday.

"The treasury never justified its $700 billion figure," Mr. English said. "There were many who implied that it could be done with a far smaller exposure to the taxpayers."

The bill, revised and expanded by nearly 300 pages in the Senate this week, includes an array of targeted tax breaks for a range of industries not directly related to the financial markets.

They include extension of a tax depreciation timetable for NASCAR and other motorsport race parks, an exemption on wooden practice arrows used by children, and extending a provision that gives Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands a rebate against the excise taxes charged on rum.

The inclusion of those and other tax breaks not tied to the financial sector angered Mr. Doyle, who said he voted against the rules motion that preceded the actual vote on the measure as a protest. The rules vote essentially closed off the opportunity to add amendments -- a move to speed the vote, but which also foreclosed the possibility of stripping the bill of its tax provisions and sending it back to the Senate for concurrence.

"Unfortunately, when you pass a piece of legislation, there's some garbage in there," said Mr. Shuster. "The garbage part of this is small compared to the overall tax package. We don't want the perfect to get in the way of the necessary."