Washington - The US presidential candidates on Tuesday spent the day after a 700-billion-dollar financial rescue plan failed in Congress calling on their colleagues to quickly move to renew the deal.

"I am disappointed at the lack of resolve and bipartisan goodwill among members of both parties to fix this problem," Republican John McCain said at a campaign event in the Midwestern state of Iowa. "Bipartisanship is a tough thing, never more so when you're trying to take necessary but publicly unpopular action. But inaction is not an option."

With just a month left before November 4 elections, both McCain and Democratic rival Barack Obama expressed outrage with the underlying problems behind the financial crisis that has frozen credit markets and sent stocks on a roller coaster, but said now was the time for action, not blame.

"There will be time to punish those who set this fire, but now is the moment for us to come together and put the fire out," Obama said at a campaign event in Nevada.

The candidates called for alterations to the plan to make it more palatable to lawmakers besieged by phone calls and emails from angry constituents.

McCain and Obama both said the amount of bank deposits insured by the government should be increased to 250,000 dollars per depositor from 100,000 dollars. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation later called for just such a move, MSNBC reported.

McCain further urged the Treasury Department to begin using its existing funds and authority to buy up the mortgage-backed securities at the heart of the mess.

Both men have said they would vote for the unpopular package.