BIGGEST POINT DROP EVER: Stocks plunge 777 points as House rejects bailout

The stock market took a nosedive Monday afternoon, dropping 700 points as lawmakers in the House of Representatives rejected a $700 billion bailout plan.

The bill, which needed 218 votes for passage, came up 13 votes short, with 205 votes in favor and 228 against. The markets rebounded shortly after the congressional vote, as word emerged that the House would likely reconsider the bill later on.

"The meltdown intensified as U.S. lawmakers voted on a $700 billion financial rescue plan that some were already saying would not be enough to prevent a full-scale financial crisis in many major countries," MarketWatch reported.

"What was supposed to be a 15-minute vote stretched past the half-hour mark as leadership scrambled for support," CNN reported.

Politicians in both political parties were nervous about signing their names to what has been called the biggest government intervention since the Great Depression. The proposal is said to be unpopular in the public and some lawmakers report heavy pressure from their constituents to oppose the deal.

About 60 percent of Democrats voted for the measure, but less than a third of Republicans backed the measure, according to CNN.

"The defeat is a massive setback for the Bush administration," the Wall Street Journal reported. "Specifically the Treasury Department, as well as lawmakers who have been working throughout the last week on the legislation in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings as well as the government's bailout of American International Group Inc. and its takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

"Many House members who voted for the bill held their noses, figuratively speaking, as they did so," the New York Times reported. According to the Times, Representative John Boehner (R-OH) urged members to reflect on the damage that a defeat of the measure could mean "to your friends, your neighbors, your constituents" as they might watch their retirement savings "shrivel up to zero."