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Bush touts $4.2 billion plan for Louisiana homeownersPresident eyes recovery efforts on 10th trip to devastated Gulf
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YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSNEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- During a tour of the hurricane-damaged Gulf Coast, President Bush on Wednesday pressed Congress to pass a proposal that would reimburse up to $150,000 to each Louisiana homeowner who lost a residence to Katrina. "We've all been working to figure out how to come up with a housing plan that will restore the confidence of the people of this important part of our country," Bush said after visiting a levee repair site in New Orleans. "And in order to make sure that housing plan meets its goals, Congress should make sure that the $4.2 billion I requested goes to the state of Louisiana." The $4.2 billion plan is part of a $20 billion supplemental funding bill before Congress. If homeowners already have received funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or insurance payouts, the amount would be subtracted from the $150,000, said Don Powell, the administration's point man on storm recovery. Congress is considering allowing all homeowners affected by Katrina to apply for the $4.2 billion in proposed housing aide, according to The Associated Press. Bush wants to limit access to those funds to Louisianans, the AP reported. "I appreciate the determination by the folks down here to rebuild," Bush said. "I fully understand and I hope our country understands the pain and agony that the people of New Orleans and Louisiana and the parishes surrounding New Orleans went through." With surveys showing his approval rating dropping, Bush stopped in New Orleans Wednesday and later visited Mississippi on his way back to Washington from his Texas ranch. The daylong tour was the president's 10th visit to the region since the storm hit August 29, killing more than 1,300 people. In Mississippi, Bush announced an extension of more than three months for the federal government to pay for debris removal in that state. Only about half of the rubble left by Katrina has been removed. Levee repairIn New Orleans, Bush also urged Congress to authorize more funds for levee repair. Breached levees and resulting floods left more than three-quarters of the city underwater after the hurricane hit. "Congress heard our message about improving the levees, but they shortchanged the process by about $1.5 billion," Bush said. "And so, in order to help fulfill our promise on the levees, Congress needs to restore the $1.5 billion to make this a real commitment, to inspire the good folks down here that they'll have a levee system that will encourage development and reconstruction." Questions have been raised about whether repairs to the levees will adequately protect New Orleans during the upcoming hurricane season. The president said the first part of his strategy is to make sure the levees are strong. "We fully understand that if people don't have confidence in the levee system, they're not going to want to come back," Bush said. "People aren't going to want to spend money or invest." He said he had received a briefing from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that says repairs to the levee system are on schedule to meet a June 1 deadline. "They're identifying and correcting design and construction deficiencies so that as we go into the start of the hurricane season, the levees will be equal [to] or better than they were before Katrina," Bush said. Lower 9th WardThe president also toured some of the areas still in shambles. He met with debris removal workers in the hard-hit Lower 9th Ward, where this week demolition began on some 118 homes that were destroyed by floodwaters. Bodies continue to be found among the wreckage. The president said a lot more work needs to be done to clean up the city. "[The] vast majority of debris on public property has been removed," he said. "Most of the remaining debris is on private property in yards or inside houses that need to be gutted or demolished. To get the debris, the residents need to give permission -- in most cases -- to the local authorities. "The problem is obviously many homeowners are still displaced -- and that's why we're working at all levels of government to encourage evacuees to inspect their properties and to salvage what they can and to make decisions about the future." Unemployment benefits extendedEarlier this week, the White House announced it was extending to 39 weeks the time that victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita can collect disaster unemployment benefits. The previous cutoff was 26 weeks. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday the federal government has committed some $88 billion to help rebuild the Gulf Coast. Still, Bush and the federal government have come under harsh criticism about the handling of Katrina's aftermath. A congressional report released in February slammed the government's response to Katrina, calling it a "failure of leadership," and a White House report concluded that inexperienced disaster response managers and a lack of leadership contributed to vast federal failures. An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted March 2-5 showed that 63 percent of the respondents disapproved of the way Bush handled the post-Katrina situation. "We're six months now after the storm, and there are still large swaths of [New Orleans] that look like they did a month after the storm. It's just inexcusable," said Matt Fellowes, a senior research associate at the Washington think tank Brookings Institution who visited the city and surrounding area in mid-February to assess rebuilding efforts. (Full story) CNN's Suzanne Malveaux contributed to this report. 
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