Washington ? Acting with extraordinary speed, Congress approved an additional $51.8 billion for relief and recovery from Hurricane Katrina on Thursday. President Bush pledged to make it “easy and simple as possible” for uncounted, uprooted storm victims to collect food stamps and other government benefits.

“We’re not asking for a handout, but we do need help,” said Sen. Trent Lott – whose home state of Mississippi suffered grievously from the storm – as lawmakers cleared the bill for Bush’s signature less than 24 hours after he requested it. The measure includes $2,000 debit cards for families to use on immediate needs.

Bush signed the bill Thursday night. In a statement issued by the White House, he praised Congress for “moving swiftly and in strong bipartisan fashion to approve these additional emergency funds” but cautioned: “More resources will be needed as we work to help people get back on their feet.”

The overwhelming support for the measure across party lines – it passed 410-11 in the House and 97-0 in the Senate – masked murmurs of concern about a rapidly rising price tag, as well as a growing atmosphere of political jockeying in Congress less than two weeks after the hurricane battered the Gulf Coast.

Only partial framing remains of houses in a residential community Thursday along the Jourdan River, north of Bay St. Louis, Miss., after being devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Congressional Democratic leaders said they would refuse to appoint members to a committee that Republican leaders intend to create to investigate the administration’s readiness and response to the storm.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi called the GOP plan “a sham that is just the latest example of congressional Republicans being the foxes guarding the president’s hen house.” Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said it was like a baseball pitcher calling “his own balls and strikes.” Both urged appointment of an independent panel like the Sept. 11 commission.

Republicans said they intended to go ahead despite the threatened boycott. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, of Tennessee, told reporters there had been a “systemwide failure” in the response to the storm. Citing problems at the local, state and federal levels, he said, “We will get to the bottom of that” in a congressional investigation.

Even before Bush spoke and Congress acted, the government provided fresh evidence of the impact of the storm.

The Labor Department reported that roughly 10,000 workers filed for unemployment benefits last week after losing their jobs as a result of the storm and said the level would rise sharply. In a painful irony, analysts said Thursday’s number would have been higher yet except that the storm forced claims offices to close and prevented more of the newly jobless from filling out their paperwork.

The White House said $50 billion of the $51.8 billion bill would be distributed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has been the subject of widespread criticism in the past week.

The official breakdown said $23.2 billion was for housing aid and grants to individuals, of which about $640 million was for the unprecedented debit cards.

State and local governments are in line for $7.7 billion in reimbursement costs.