A bill providing more aid to rebuild the Gulf Coast now awaits Senate action. The House on March 16 approved a $92-billion supplemental spending bill that has $19.2 billion to continue repairing Gulf housing, levees and other hurricane-damaged infrastructure. If the Senate agrees, the funds would supplement $87 billion approved since September for the region.

The House bill allots $1.46 billion to the Corps of Engineers for New Orleans-area flood-control work and $9.6 billion to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It also provides $4.2 billion in Commu-nity Development Block Grants, including at least $1 billion to rebuild housing. But the House deleted President Bush's request to send all of the block grants to Louisiana. Senate appropriators aren’t expected to take up their bill before April.