But in a trip designed to highlight the progress that has been made in the 18 months since the hurricane devastated New Orleans and the Mississippi coast, the president insisted that “people’s lives are improving and there is hope.”

As billions of federal dollars have sat in state accounts untapped in part because of complex federal rules, Louisiana officials in particular have become vocal about what they called the Bush administration’s wavering interest in the rebuilding process. The frustration came to a boil when Bush failed to mention Katrina during his State of the Union address, prompting Democratic Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to observe that the “the pains of the hurricane are yesterday’s news in Washington.”

After a meeting with state and local officials in Biloxi, Miss., Thursday, Bush said he had listened as the officials described their “continued frustration with the slowness of federal response at times. It’s important for me to hear that.”

In Washington, House Democrats renewed their own criticism of the administration. They promised to move legislation—which has not been endorsed by Bush—to forgive some federal loans to disaster-wracked communities while easing matching fund requirements now tied to some federal aid.

“Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster, compounded by a man-made disaster. It is now 18 months past time to get our response right,” said a statement signed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.

Bush’s trip, his 14th since Katrina, was a continuation of his attempts to undo the political damage caused by the storm, which proved to be a pivotal event in his presidency. The federal government’s bungled response to the disaster undermined the administration’s claim to competence and helped propel Bush’s approval ratings downward.

In the days after Katrina hit, the nation watched in horror as thousands of residents in New Orleans were forced to rooftops and to fetid, ill-equipped shelters to escape the rising floodwaters even as federal disaster officials insisted things were under control.

Several days after Katrina made its devastating landfall, Bush stood in historic Jackson Square and promised to rebuild this shattered city and the rest of the Gulf Coast with “one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen.”

But since then, things have moved at a frustratingly slow pace—particularly here in the New Orleans area—despite US$110 billion in federal money set aside for storm recovery and repeated visits by the president.

The federal government has overseen the repair of 220 miles of levees and floodwalls and is working to make the storm-protection system stronger than it was before Katrina, a project that should be completed in 2010.

However, only 45 percent of the pre-Katrina population of New Orleans has returned to the city, which, while slowly improving, remains a shadow of its former self: only 40 percent of the food establishments, 30 percent of the child care centers and 17 percent of the buses are back in business, according to a January report by the Brookings Institution. The Louisiana-run Road Home program, which provides home rebuilding grants for homeowners who lacked adequate storm insurance, has sent checks to 2,718 hurricane victims as of Wednesday, despite having received more than 110,000 applications and having federal funding of more than US$7.5 billion in the bank.

Officials, however, said the pace of the program is now increasing. “We are seeing at the pinnacle of the program where things are now starting to happen more quickly,” said Gentry Brann, communications director for ICF International, the Virginia-based firm hired to administer the program.

Local residents have also complained about a shortage of low-income housing, as the Bush administration has been reluctant to rebuild the city’s decrepit and previously crime-ridden public housing projects, instead favoring lower-density, mixed-income housing.

Before meeting with Louisiana officials at a New Orleans restaurant Thursday, Bush again vowed to see the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast through until the job is done. “I committed to the people of this part of the world and the Gulf Coast that the federal government would fund the recovery and stay committed to the recovery,” he said.

Federal and state officials have blamed one another for the problems with the crucial program. Federal officials point out that the program was set up by the state and that the federal money is in place to be given to storm victims. State and program officials, meanwhile, blame complex federal regulations aimed at preventing fraud for much of the delay.

“It needs to speed up. Things are moving too slow,” said Donald Powell, the president’s Gulf Coast recovery coordinator. Still, given the sheer size of the recovery effort, he said, “expectations need to be realistic. This was a terrible, terrible storm. It is going to take some time.”

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