Bush visits N.O.

(AP) — With parts of this hurricane-devastated city still piled with debris and lacking basic services, President Bush promised Thursday to make the federal response to any new hurricanes “as effective as possible.”
“All of us in positions of responsibility appreciate those who are helping us to understand how to do our jobs better,” said Bush, whose administration has been faulted for its flawed response to Hurricane Katrina.
It was the president’s 11th visit to the region since Katrina smashed into the Gulf Coast last August and it was intended to encourage volunteers to pitch in on the massive reconstruction effort.
Bush stopped at a modest bungalow restored by volunteers, situated on a Ninth Ward street still littered with debris and overgrown with weeds. White government trailers that are the main housing for the displaced sat in many front yards.
Ethel Williams, the owner of the single-story, green and white duplex, thanked the work of others that allowed her to return to her home from Texas, where she fled during the storm. “I’m proud that you’re here, Mr. President, and I won’t ever forget you,” she said, her arm around Bush’s waist.
Said the president: “If you’re interested in helping the victims of Katrina, interested in helping them get back on their feet, come on down here.”
From Williams’ home, Bush’s motorcade took him to a nearby large vacant lot where Habitat for Humanity is building 81 new homes for New Orleans musicians.
Bush, clad in casual blue pants and checked shirt, donned work gloves and a tool pouch as he wandered around the construction site chatting with workers. The president, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin helped raise roof frames onto one house.
Bush and Nagin traded jokes as they pounded nails into the frame. “I got a few people I’d like to hit,” quipped Nagin, who faces a runoff election next month against a fellow Democrat, Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, in his bid for another term.
Later Monday, the president was visiting a volunteer base camp in Biloxi, Miss.
Katrina was one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, killing more than 1,300 people, leaving hundreds of thousands of homeless, and causing tens of billions of dollars in damage. The government’s lagging help for disaster victims has contributed to a persistent second-term slump for Bush.
Against a backdrop of continued misery nearly eight months after Katrina came ashore, the White House has sought to highlight a massive infusion of federal spending _ more than $100 billion once an emergency spending measure before the Senate is approved _ toward the region’s reconstruction.
Don Powell, Bush’s liaison to hurricane relief efforts, said officials still are struggling to deal with the mountains of debris in Louisiana created by Katrina’s destruction. But he said much progress has been made, including the processing of community block grants in Mississippi, an anticipated restoration of New Orleans’ levees to their pre-Katrina condition by a June 1 deadline, and movement on a housing plan for Louisiana.
Bush’s visit came as a bipartisan Senate panel investigating the government’s flawed Katrina response said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is crippled beyond repair and should be dismantled in favor of a new agency.
Bush said his administration is working with local officials to make sure communications are clearer next time and that supplies are pre-positioned effectively during the new hurricane season, which starts in a little over a month.
“We are far better prepared today than we were this time last year,” said Frances Fragos Townsend, Bush’s homeland security adviser, Townsend. “And we will be far better prepared by June 1.”
Also Thursday, the Senate continued voting on the emergency spending measure for Iraq and hurricane relief that includes $27.1 billion for the Gulf Coast, including grants to states to build and repair housing and $2.1 billion for levees and flood control projects.
Bush has asked the Senate to add another $2.2 billion to repair and strengthen levees in and around New Orleans. The request wouldn’t add to the overall cost of the bill since it was accompanied by a decrease in FEMA disaster funds. Mississippi officials were sure to lobby Bush for a $700 million project to relocate a freight rail line along the coast so the state can build a new east-west highway.