Dire warnings of economic collapse have been coming from Washington, D.C., for more than a week. After the House of Representatives initially rejected the $700 billion financial rescue plan, the Senate made some modifications to the bill and passed it 74-25.

The thinking was that the so-called sweeteners would help ensure House passage, which did occur on Friday.

Americans should expect that the elected representatives who initially voted against the massive rescue plan, or bailout as it's been called, had legitimate reasons for doing so, such as inadequate taxpayer protections or unwarranted rewards for bad decisions made by banks. Such reasoning would have supported the Senate making changes to the legislation to ease some of those concerns and make it a better, more-effective rescue plan.

Instead, what the Senate did was to add narrowly targeted goodies to try to buy a few votes. The House needed to change just 12 of the original "no" votes to win passage.

Commenting on the revised bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said, "It's not for the titans of Wall Street. It's for families across Nevada and America who are fighting to keep their jobs, save their homes and make one paycheck last until another one."

So, with the fate of the global economy — and American families —hanging in the balance, the Senate improved the $700 billion financial rescue plan by adding about $100 billion in tax breaks and frivolous favors.

One change involved increasing the cap in federally insured bank accounts to $250,000 from $100,000. That change seems reasonable, if it increases confidence in the banking system. But it also could cost taxpayers a bundle, and might even encourage more risky investments by banks.

Other changes include a provision to protect 20 million Americans from being hit by the so-called alternative minimum tax. Another tax change included in the new, "improved" rescue bill would extend for one year a seven-year depreciation schedule for racetracks, a measure supported by NASCAR because it means higher profits for racing facilities.

The Senate also added $8 billion for disaster relief for people living in the Midwest, Louisiana and Texas — and to buy the votes of their representatives. The Senate also added $400 million in tax breaks for teachers who buy school materials with their own money.

To improve the financial rescue plan, the Senate extended reductions of import duties on some wool fabrics. Senators also decided to allow commercial fishermen who receive damage awards from the Exxon Valdez oil spill to average their income boost over three years, instead of taking the increased income, and taxes, in just one year.

The bill now includes a provision, which has been discussed in Washington for years, to provide health insurance parity for mental health issues. It's a worthy goal, but something that should be in a health care bill, not a financial rescue package.

In its effort to improve the rescue bill, the Senate also extended tax credits for solar panels. Again, it's a worthy idea, but something that should be in an energy bill.

Other sweeteners included tax breaks and accounting rule changes to help Hollywood movie producers. That provision apparently was aimed at flipping the votes of two Demo-cratic representatives who voted against the original bill.

Another absurd sweetener to buy votes found the Senate's financial rescue package adding a tax break for employers whose workers ride bicycles to work.

Another equally absurd addition included exempting from an excise tax certain wooden arrows used by children. So, buried in the fine print of the now 450-page rescue plan we find the words, "This proposal would exempt from the excise tax any shaft consisting of all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means to enhance the spine of the shaft used in the manufacture of an arrow that measures 5/16 of an inch or less and is unsuited for use with a bow with a peak draw weight of 30 pounds or more."

It's nice to see that the Senate is serious about creating an effective financial rescue plan in this time of crisis.

Following the Senate's passage of the revised rescue bill, President George W. Bush urged support for the package saying, "A lot of people are watching."

He apparently meant Wall Street investment banks and central banks around the world, and maybe community banks on Main Street. But if many Americans are watching — and paying attention to the fine print in this legislation — they have to be disgusted at the games being played in Congress.

The reality of the financial mess causing a credit freeze in the American economy are dire enough that this legislation should have become law, even with the unrelated, unnecessary and frivolous changes. But one House member, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said what many Americans were thinking when he saw the revised package. Doggett said the Senate sweeteners changed his position from "No"to "Heck No."

He should have said, "Hell no." And so should have a majority in the House.

With the Senate changes, Doggett said, "The bailout has gone from bad to worse, $105 billion more in public debt worse." Again, he's right.

Where were Sens. John McCain, Barack Obama and Joe Biden to step up and show leadership by blasting these giveaways and demanding that they be removed?

The honorable thing to do would have been for the House to strip out the extraneous goodies and keep the bill focused on addressing the financial crisis, even if a revised bill had to go back to the Senate. But that's not how the game is played in Washington, D.C., even with the fate of the U.S. economy — and the world — at risk.

It's disgusting and disgraceful.