Bush seeks additional $51.8 billion in aid

President George W. Bush will ask lawmakers for another $US51.8 billion ($67.6bn) in emergency funding to cover costs tied to Hurricane Katrina, the White House has said.

"We are sparing no effort to help those who have been affected by Katrina and are in need of help," spokesman Scott McClellan said.

The new package will primarily pay for search-and-rescue efforts and drinking water, and will cover public health issues caused by the killer storm, said the spokesman

Herald Sun (Australia)
People's Daily Online (China)

Wouldn't it be nifty if Bush could just spend money on stuff without going to Congress and the Senate for approval? By the way people talk on this forum, you'd think that was actually the case...

Bush asks for more funds to support post-hurricane recovery

McClellan noted this will not be the last funding for relief and recovery efforts.

Earlier, US Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday thathe expected the total funding for relief efforts to be as much as 150 billion dollars.

One hundred and fifty billion dollars. Imagine if somebody had thought to spend $20 billion on new levees and protecting the wetlands sometime in the past 10 years.