US House panel approves new hurricane aid

WASHINGTON, Mar 9 (Reuters) A House committee approved about 19 billion dollar in new emergency funds to help clean up and rebuild southern states, including nearly 1.5 billion dollar for repairing New Orleans levees ruined by Hurricane Katrina last summer.

The House Appropriations Committee approved the measure, which is coupled with about 70 billion dollar in new emergency funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A full House vote is expected next week.

The House action came on the same day President George W Bush toured New Orleans and criticised the Republican-controlled Congress for failing to fully fund levee repair requests in earlier legislation.

The emergency hurricane funds, slightly less than requested by Bush, would be in addition to about 62 billion dollar Congress approved shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi last August, as well as other federal aid measures since then.

The new funds, which are likely to be debated by the Senate Appropriations Committee in coming weeks, would help the embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency. Nearly half of the funds in the bill would go to FEMA so it can remove debris from the hard-hit Gulf Coast states, reimburse state and local governments for infrastructure repairs and help displaced families.

Bush, who was heavily criticized for the administration's sluggish initial response to the August. 29 hurricane, strode with his wife, Laura, through the water-damaged streets of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward, an impoverished, predominantly black area. It was his first visit there since the storm.

Wearing a powder blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, Bush walked past boarded-up and abandoned houses while workers cleared mounds of debris.

About 150 protesters gathered for his walk-through. One woman held a placard that read ''Where's my government?'' reflecting lingering anger at the slow pace of recovery and the lack of a clear revival plan.

''Things could be a lot faster,'' said Kim Stewart, the 45-year-old owner of a diner where Bush stopped for a traditional New Orleans meal of red beans and rice.

The funding bill moving through the House also would provide 4.2 billion dollar for community development block grants, as requested by Bush. About one-quarter of the money would be used to repair affordable rental housing in the region.

The committee's overall lower spending than Bush requested was mostly due to cuts the committee made to reimbursements to the Defence Department for disaster assistance and some military facility repairs.

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