Priorities of Earmarks Are Disputed

The federally funded housing program offers money only to about half of the approximately 42,000 homeowners who suffered damage: those who owned property outside the designated "flood zone" and those who had a homeowners insurance policy but lacked flood insurance.

The state recently began accepting applications for that program. But even for that limited group, the relief often falls short of what is required to rebuild, because homeowners can receive no more than the limit of their homeowners insurance policy and many, such as Brown, were underinsured.

Eddie Favre is mayor of nearby Bay St. Louis, a small city that bore some of the worst of the storm surge. He said he found it difficult to support the purchase of the CSX rail line because of the more pressing demands he faces.

The city's property tax base has dropped from $87 million to $27 million because of the destruction, he said, and the city is in dire financial straits.

The railroad purchase "may be a great project, but to me there's a lot more pressing needs that the $700 million could cover," he said. "I don't know how I'm going to pay our police. I don't know how we're going to pay our teachers. I don't even know if there is going to be a city anymore."

Cochran defended the railroad project, saying it is important to economically jump-start the region.

"I understand many needs remain in the Gulf Coast region and there is still much that needs to be rebuilt," he said. "We need to make sure there will be industry and jobs for the people who are attempting to rebuild their lives, and we need to make sure we are prepared for future storms by rebuilding in a way that mitigates future damage."

Earmarks avoid more rigorous review and add billions of dollars to the cost of the legislation. Assistance for farmers around the country added at least $4 billion. But by spreading the wealth, legislators please constituents nationwide and build support for its passage.

But the towering forests that climb the slopes of the snow-capped Rockies just west of Lake Dillon, Colo., are a long way from Katrina's path and from Baghdad. The bill includes $30 million to deal with a hungry insect called the bark beetle that is eating its way through the state's pine trees.

The insect-control funds were added on the Senate floor, with no debate and no committee consideration, after Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) warned that "extended drought and insect infestations have created dangerous conditions for catastrophic fires in 2006."

At least one of the projects has been rejected twice before but has won preliminary approval as an earmark: money to alleviate the red-tide losses borne by New England's shellfishermen.

Last summer, senators from the region asked colleagues to include $15 million in the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill to help. That didn't work. They also requested that the Office of Management and Budget include money for shellfishermen in the next federal budget but were turned down.

They have had more success in the current bill. The Senate approved a measure that provides $20 million to "assist shellfishermen" in New England affected by a red tide outbreak last year.

Melissa Wagoner, a spokeswoman for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), defended the decision to include the money in an emergency appropriations bill.

"It's an emergency for our fishermen and their families," she said, adding that "you look for a vehicle" to get the measure passed.

In Biloxi, Brown said she may receive as much as $40,000 in aid. But her house took on water up to the eaves, and the cost of repairs probably will far exceed that. Last week, her son was on her front porch, trying to make repairs.

"You hear about billions of dollars coming from Washington," said Robert Brown, 58, a garbage truck driver. "But where is it?"

Staff writers David A. Fahrenthold in Boston, T.R. Reid in Denver and Catharine Skipp in Miami contributed to this report.