US Senate approves $94.5 bln war, hurricane funds

WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) The US Senate today easily passed a .5 billion emergency bill to fund the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and rebuild US southern states after last summer's hurricanes, sending it to President George W Bush.

When Bush signs the legislation into law, 65.8 billion dollars will be rushed to the Pentagon so it can continue combat in the two countries through September.

The bill also contains .8 billion to help Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and other states recovering from Hurricane Katrina and other storms.

The vote came one day after the Senate unanimously put the Bush administration on notice that it would have to improve its planning for the high cost of the Iraq war, which now nears 320 billion dollars.

While Congress has overwhelmingly supported the emergency spending bills for troops fighting abroad, there is growing dissent over how long the U.S. military presence should be maintained in Iraq, where 2,500 American troops have died and thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed.

Reuters CH GC2029