Congress' top two Democrats furiously criticized the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina on Wednesday, with Sen. Harry Reid demanding to know whether President Bush's Texas vacation impeded relief efforts and Rep. Nancy Pelosi assailing the chief executive as "oblivious, in denial" about the difficulties.

With much of New Orleans still under water, Bush readied a request for about $52 billion for relief and recovery along the Gulf Coast, and the White House indicated millions more would be needed later. Congressional officials said they expected to approve the next installment as early as Thursday, to keep the money flowing without interruption.

There was no formal announcement of the details in the request, although the Associated Press learned that the government planned to distribute debit cards worth $2,000 to victims of the hurricane.

"They are going to start issuing debit cards, $2,000 per adult, today at the Astrodome," said Kathy Walt, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

The cards could be used to buy food, transportation, gas and other essentials that displaced people need, according to a state official who was on the call and requested anonymity because the program had not been publicly announced.

GOP congressional leaders met privately to plan their next step, possibly including an unusual joint House-Senate committee to investigate what went wrong in the government's response and what can be fixed. Establishment of a joint panel would presumably eliminate overlapping investigations that might otherwise spring up as individual committees looked into the natural disaster and its aftermath.

In a letter to the Senate's Homeland Security Committee chairwoman, Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, pressed for a wide-ranging investigation and answers to several questions, including: "How much time did the president spend dealing with this emerging crisis while he was on vacation? Did the fact that he was outside of Washington, D.C., have any effect on the federal government's response?"

At a news conference, Pelosi, D-Calif., said Bush's choice for head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency had "absolutely no credentials."

She related that she had urged Bush at the White House on Tuesday to fire Michael Brown.

"He said 'Why would I do that?'" Pelosi said.

"'I said because of all that went wrong, of all that didn't go right last week.' And he said 'What didn't go right?'"

"Oblivious, in denial, dangerous," she added.

In the first government estimate of Katrina's economic impact, the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office said the damage seemed likely to reduce employment by 400,000 in coming months and to trim economic growth by as much as a full percentage point in the second half of the year. The impact should be temporary, with gasoline prices declining and consumer spending rebounding, said the assessment obtained by The Associated Press.

At the White House, press secretary Scott McClellan said the administration was acting quickly on an emergency supplemental measure for Katrina efforts because a $10.5 billion down payment approved last week "is being spent more quickly than we even anticipated."

Bush is expected to return to the region, but the White House would not say when. Separately, first lady Laura Bush planned to travel to Mississippi on Thursday, the same day Vice President Dick Cheney heads to the Gulf states.

Buffeted by criticism of the Republican administration, GOP Senate chairmen stood in unison and announced that Congress first would open hearings on how to help the Gulf Coast recover from the disaster, and then later examine the response.

"Our role in the United States Senate will be, yes, to investigate and provide appropriate oversight, but also to lower barriers for the recovery and the rebuilding and the economic growth of the Gulf states," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Susan Collins, the senator whom Reid's letter was addressed to, said her panel would open hearings on "what should we be doing right now." Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said that as chairman of the energy and water subcommittee, he could convene a panel this week to provide the Army Corps of Engineers with the money it needs to help the region recover.

The House on Wednesday was expected to pass two Katrina-related bills: One would allow the secretary of education to waive the current rule that recipients of Pell Grants for low-income students must repay those grants when they are forced to withdraw from classes due to natural disasters.

The other would allow circuit, district and bankruptcy courts to conduct special sessions outside their geographic boundaries when they are unable to meet because of emergency conditions.

Even as they called for investigations of the government's response, several Democratic senators said it was already clear that Brown, the FEMA director, should go.

Hillary Rodham Clinton bristled when asked about Republican accusations that she was trying to capitalize on a natural disaster to help her political career.

She said on NBC's "Today,""Every time anyone raises any kind of legitimate criticism and asks questions, they're attacked."

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D, said in a telephone call with reporters Wednesday that he and other members of the Senate may try to push legislation that would separate FEMA from the Homeland Security Department. He said they may try to add the language to a spending bill that would fund the Commerce and Justice Departments.

Reid said in his letter that Collins' panel should pursue answers to several questions. Among them, why Bush and administration officials said no one anticipated the breach of the levees despite public studies and warnings, whether budget cuts thwarted the Army Corps of Engineers and whether enough troops were dispatched promptly.

Associated Press Writers Laurie Kellman, Mary Clare Jalonick and Jim Abrams contributed to this report.

Commentary:
The media can't help themselves. The story is about democrats attacking Bush, but the attack begins in the seventh paragraph and consists of a few words. The rest of the article has nothing to do with the headline. Why didn't they just call this the "this is another pro Bush story" and forget about the dems? Fire these two reporters and/or their editors.

Where are the rest of the dems? Waiting for the polls to come out? It's sad to see such a strong party humiliate itself out of existence. If everything goes as planned we'll have democrats praising Bush's leadership again. It's no wonder they're in the minority.

Which is worse–a democrat who's too cowardly to say or do anything that might offend someone or an incompetent republican?

Hint to Reid: Letters to Homeland Security aren't worth the paper they're written on. Get off your butt and get on TV.

I wish both parties would go away.