Congress to Rush $10.5B Relief Package to Bush ; Two Former Presidents to Lead Private Fund-Raising Efforts

WASHINGTON – Congress rushed to provide a $10.5 billion down payment in relief aid for Gulf Coast victims of Hurricane Katrina on Thursday.

The Senate approved the measure Thursday night, and the House will convene today to speed the measure to President Bush’s desk.

In a separate move, Bush named former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.-W. Bush to head efforts to raise private relief funds.

Senate leaders convened for a vote Thursday night on the federal funding after the president telephoned congressional leaders of both parties at 3:30 p.m

A skeleton crew of Senate leaders was all that was required to speed the measure through by voice vote after Bush informed top Republicans and Democrats that reserves of relief funds could be exhausted by Congress’s scheduled return from a five-week vacation on Tuesday.

The rapid action was in part a measure of the pace at which the Federal Emergency Management Agency is spending money – $500 million a day – on relief efforts in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. FEMA would run out of money before the long weekend if Congress did not act.

But the quick action also is a measure of the political challenge posed for the president and Congress by the relentless, heart- rending television images of those left homeless and imploring for help. Many victims are expressing anger that government help is being promised at the highest levels but lacking at street level.

The White House said Bush will seek more money in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., raised eyebrows by telling the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill., on Wednesday that lawmakers should ask themselves whether it makes sense to rebuild New Orleans.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” Hastert said of the low-lying city that relies on levees to avoid catastrophic floods. “And it’s a question that certainly we should ask.”

According to a transcript read to the Chicago Tribune by a Hastert aide, the speaker also noted that “it looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed.”

On Thursday, Hastert issued a statement: “My thoughts and prayers are with the citizens of New Orleans who have been so severely affected by Hurricane Katrina. … It is important that when we rebuild this historic city that we consider the safety of the citizens first. I am not advocating that the city be abandoned or relocated.

“My comments about rebuilding the city were intended to reflect my sincere concern with how the city is rebuilt to ensure the future protection of its citizens and not to suggest that this great and historic city should not be rebuilt.”

Still, Hastert’s comments drew a swift rebuke from Louisiana Rep. Charlie Melancon, a Democrat.

“The world loves New Orleans and I assure you that this great city and the communities in southeast Louisiana will be rebuilt,” Melancon said in a statement. “At a time when our state continues intense search and rescue efforts to reach stranded Louisianians, it is irresponsible to divert attention away from the issue at hand.”

The president planned to fly to the storm-stricken region today for a ground-level inspection of the devastated communities that he viewed from the air earlier this week. Bush plans stops in Alabama, Mississippi and New Orleans, a spokesman said.

Amid intensifying concern for a rapidly deteriorating situation, the president acknowledged that the impact of Katrina will be felt beyond the Gulf Coast, with gasoline becoming not only more expensive but also harder to find as a result of the hurricane’s disruption of refineries and pipelines.

“The good folks must understand that major refineries have been shut down, which means it’s going to be hard to get gasoline to some markets,” Bush said. He said he was authorizing foreign tankers to transport gas and oil to markets as needed, shipments that previously had been limited to U.S. tankers.

Of the $10.5 billion the president has requested, $500 million would go to the Department of Defense.

But most would go to FEMA, which had only $2.5 billion left in its budget through the end of September for disaster relief.

“That would have been sufficient for an ordinary hurricane disaster,” White House Office of Management and Budget Director Josh Bolten said. “However, this disaster is of a magnitude that takes it far out of the ordinary.”

While calling on Congress to approve a huge federal aid package, the president also asked private citizens and corporations to contribute.

In selecting his two immediate predecessors to lead that fund raising, Bush recruited a pair who are playing a similar role for victims of the tsunami that swept across Asia in December.

“This recovery is going to be a long process,” said Bush, with the two former presidents standing beside him.

“It’s also going to require a lot of money, and the federal government will do its part. But the private sector needs to do its part as well.”

Wal-Mart quickly announced that it is donating $15 million.