WASHINGTON -- Most of Texas’ congressional delegation voted against a $700 billion bailout for the nation’s financial system that failed in the House, sending stock markets plunging.

Only nine of the state’s House members, five Democrats and four Republicans, voted for the rescue in the 228-205 vote Monday.

“At a time when confidence is low throughout the global economy, the government has a responsibility to act to prevent a wider economic collapse that truly harms everyday families,” Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards, the ranking Texan on the House Appropriations Committee, said in a news release issued after he voted for the package.

Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woolands, voted for the bill he said he “detests,” but added he could not “stand by and let this financial virus spread to families and small businesses in southeast Texas communities, risking their jobs or their bank accounts.”

“With all their bad decisions, I don’t give a flip about Wall Street,” Brady said.

Eight Texas Democrats joined with 15 Texas Republicans to vote against the bill that President Bush and congressional leaders warned must pass to slow the economic crisis.

Among those voting against the bill were Reps. Nick Lampson and Ciro Rodriguez, two Democrats with the most competitive races in November’s elections. For some facing tough re-elections, voting for the taxpayer-funded rescue was politically risky.

“I thought it was a $700 billion-dollar boondoggle that, I thought, had a huge, dramatic impact on our citizenry,” said Lampson, D-Stafford, who was boarding a plane back to Texas.

Lampson is in a highly competitve race with Republcian candiadate Pete Olson to win re-election in a GOP district that once belonged to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. But Lampson said his vote was not election motivated.

He said calls to his office on the rescue were “15 to 1 or better” against the package. He also said the rescue was unfair to Hurricane Ike victims who would only get a portion of their home’s lost values from the government, while the bailout contained loopholes to allow financial company executives to walk away with millions.

Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, faces Bexar County Commissioner Lyle Larson in November.

“I could not in good conscience support a blank check to those who were irresponsible and got us in this position in the first place,” Rodriguez said.

Reps. John Culberson, R-Houston and Mike McCaul, R-Austin, also both voted against the rescue. Their races are being closely watched, although they remain favored to win.

But the naysayers were not only those in competitive races. One of Texas’ most liberal members, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, joined those who voted down the measure. Doggett, of Austin, is the state’s only Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax policy.

In speeches to the House, Doggett characterized the bailout as asking Americans to pay for 4,500 Alaskan bridges and called the package “a trillion dollar, gold-plated, diamond-encrusted Bridge to Wall Street.”