The crisis over the Bush administration’s $700bn financial rescue plan came closer to being resolved on Wednesday as support grew on Capitol Hill for a compromise package that would include tax breaks and increase federal insurance for bank accounts.

Barack Obama and John McCain, the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees, were due in Washington on Wednesday night to support the bill in an evening vote in the Senate. The upper chamber has taken the lead in considering the legislation as a means of exerting pressure over the House of Representatives, which rejected an earlier compromise this week by 228 votes to 205.