WASHINGTON -- President Bush is urging lawmakers to pass the compromise financial system bailout bill they fashioned in marathon weekend bargaining, saying it is needed to "keep the crisis in our financial industry from spreading" across the economy.

Bush made the statement at the White House Monday morning, seeking to assure Americans that approving his administration's $700 billion rescue plan is the right thing to do.

He spoke amid continued nervousness in financial markets at home and overseas.

Bush argued that jittery U.S. taxpayers will benefit from a number of safeguards that lawmakers wrote into the pending legislation during weekend negotiations on Capitol Hill.

The House is slated to vote this morning on a deeply unpopular $700 billion rescue plan for beleaguered financial companies. On Sunday, Bush called the election-year vote a difficult one for lawmakers but said he is confident Congress will pass a measure his top economic officials have argued is vital to averting a broader economic meltdown.

"Without this rescue plan, the costs to the American economy could be disastrous," Bush said in a written statement.

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