CONGRESS OKS BILLIONS IN AID LAWMAKERS MAKE DISASTER POLITICAL ISSUE WITH CRITICISM.

Byline: Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Congress rushed $10.5 billion in emergency money to victims of Hurricane Katrina on Friday while vowing to approve more in the weeks ahead as well as investigate how federal, state and local relief efforts went wrong.

Much of the stinging criticism and questions over whether enough aid was sent - and whether it was sent fast enough - divided along partisan lines.

Democrats unleashed the strongest criticism, directing their attacks at the Bush administration. Republicans, for the most part, condemned attempts to politicize Hurricane Katrina and cautioned patience.

Lawmakers from both parties, however, said they felt like they were looking at another country when they saw televised scenes of families pleading for water, corpses lying in the streets and reports of shootings, lootings and rapes.

``We wonder how this could happen in the United States of America,'' said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, one of the few Southern Californians who attended the House of Representatives' emergency session Friday.

The House unanimously passed the emergency spending measure, mirroring a measure the Senate passed Thursday. Officials said money could be flowing as early as Friday night.

After the most critical rescue work is complete, Schiff predicted, ``We're going to have a lot of very, very hard questions about why a natural disaster that was so well-foreseen was not adequately prepared for.''

Rep. Diane Watson, D-Los Angeles, called on Friday for a formal congressional inquiry. She and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus blasted the Bush administration and charged that the federal response was slow because those most affected were poor.

In a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Watson asked for a congressional inquiry to examine why federal funds to improve New Orleans' levee system were cut and for ``a thorough examination of our nation's homeland security priorities, as well as our continuing involvement in Iraq, which continues to be a drain on the national budget.''

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, said he, too, believes the Army Corps of Engineers has been underfunded and questioned why the federal government failed to secure New Orleans' levees, secure buses early for evacuations or deploy the National Guard sooner.

``You would think that after 9-11, FEMA would be at its all-time most efficient and best funded,'' he said. ``It's like they're throwing this stuff together after it's needed.''

Sherman said he also plans to reintroduce legislation that would enable the federal government to limit insurance companies' risk of financial loss from earthquakes and hurricanes, and to increase the availability of coverage for property owners.

The measure is similar to one that Congress enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for terrorism insurance.

But Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, said he is troubled by what he sees as efforts to politicize the hurricane by linking it to U.S. spending in Iraq.

He also said it is too soon to discuss where the relief efforts might have gone wrong.

``Right now is not the time to analyze. You don't focus on rebuilding a building while it's on fire. You focus on putting the fire out,'' Gallegly said. ``Right now we're in the eye of the storm and we need to help the people of southern Louisiana and Mississippi.''

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, said he wants to look into how the Federal Emergency Management Agency could more quickly call upon the military for help in a natural disaster.

``There's an awful lot of people who are wondering why there weren't military police at every corner in New Orleans,'' Lewis said.

If FEMA had been working more closely with the National Guard or the Defense Department, he speculated, emergency workers might have been able to use C-17 cargo jets to deliver emergency supplies earlier.

``That's a relationship we need to formalize,'' Lewis said. ``We would be absolutely foolish not to examine carefully the lessons learned, and there's an awful lot that we'll learn.''

Lisa Friedman, [phone]

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com